WESLEYAN HERITAGE Library

Holiness Writers

THE SPIRIT
IN REDEMPTION
By

Rev. George Shaw, A.B., B.D.

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without
which no man shall see the Lord Heb 12:14
Spreading Scriptural Holiness to the World
1999 Wesleyan Heritage Publications

The Spirit in Redemption

By

REV. GEORGE SHAW, A.B., B.D.

Dean of School of Theology, Central Holiness University,

Author of "Acquainted with Grief."

CINCINNATI:
PRESS OF JENNINGS AND GRAHAM

COPYRIGHT, 1910,

By GEORGE SHAW.

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WHO HAS STOOD
SO FAITHFULLY BY ME
"THROUGH EVIL REPORT AND GOOD REPORT"

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Contents
Chapter
I. THE PREPARATION FOR THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT
II. THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT
III. THE SPIRIT IN YOU
IV. THE GREAT REPROVERTHE SPIRIT IN CONVICTION
V. THE SPIRIT IN REPENTANCE
VI. THE SPIRIT IN JUSTIFICATION
VII. THE SPIRIT IN FAITH
VIII. THE SPIRIT IN REGENERATION
IX. THE SPIRIT IN SANCTIFICATION
X. THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
XI. THE SPIRIT IN TEMPTATION
XII. THE SPIRIT AND SPIRITUAL PROGRESS

XIII. BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT

XIV. THE CHURCH UNDER THE GUIDANCE
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
XV. THE ANOINTING OF THE SPIRIT
XVI. THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PRAYER
XVII. THE SPIRIT IN UNITY
XVIII. THE SPIRIT IN PREACHING
XIX. THE SINS AGAINST THE SPIRIT
XX. THE SPIRIT'S WARNING AGAINST APOSTASY
XXI. THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
XXII. GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
XXIII. THE SPIRIT AND THE CHRIST
XXIV. THE SPIRIT'S REVELATION OF CHRIST
XXV. MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT
XXVI. THE SPIRIT IN THE CROSS
XXVII. THE SPIRIT'S ASPIRATION

Preface
THIS book is not written with the presumption that I have anything new to
say on the great subject of the work of the Holy Spirit. I have been requested
to write and publish some of my utterances on these Gospel themes, and in
doing so I trust they will prove a blessing to the Church at large. Critics will
find much to criticise, and I can not hope that even my friends will agree with
all I have said on these subjects. I do hope, however, that there are some
things that will prove helpful to the readers.
The book has been written during the spare moments of a busy
professorship, and in moments when the mind was weary with class-work.
Some of the chapters were written years ago, and, save only in a few
instances, have been revised.
I have purposely avoided writing in a conventional style. I have also tried
to avoid the dogmatic spirit. I intended the book to be more devotional than
theological, although at times I have written in the spirit of the classroom. I
have not written to please any one sect or school of thought, but have tried to
give my own personal thought on the subjects treated in the following pages.
If I had given more time and more care, doubtless many expressions would
have been changed, but I send it forth to bless those who will read it, as I
believe it has been written with a sincere and honest mind.
The book, I believe, has been honestly written. I have given full credit,
either in quotations or in mentioning the author, when I was conscious of
having received the thought. I am indebted to many writers for the valuable
quotations found in the book.

Time did not permit me to write upon all the subjects which belong to the
Spirit's work in redemption. The subjects I have written upon lie within the
domain of Subjective and Objective Soteriology. The Spirit in Eschatology
has not been treated, except incidentally.
Many will agree with me that too much can not be written about the Holy
Spirit and His work in the Church. The Spirit's work has never been fully
recognized in the Church, and the place He has in our preaching and Church
work is altogether inadequate to the place He is given in the Scriptures and
working of the early Church. The post-apostolic Church "shows little trace
of reflection on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit." The Montanistic movement
of the second century gave great prominence to the work of the Spirit, but ran
into extravagance. It was not until the Monarchian controversy of the fourth
century that the Spirit received dogmatic recognition. And "the Monarchians"
discussed the relation of the Holy Spirit to the Trinity only incidentally," and
Sabellius, who taught the Modalistic view of the Trinity: that the Spirit and
the Son were only manifestations of the Father. He said, "There are three of
themthe gift of the law, the incarnation of the Son, and the inspiration of
the Holy Ghost."
It was after the Nicene Council that the "equality of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit was forever declared a fundamental article of the Christian faith."
It was, however, in the Macedonian controversy, which came later in the
same century, that the Spirit received special attention. Macedonius, "a
violent and unscrupulous man," taught that the Spirit was a creature of the
Son. This heresy was condemned at the Council of Constantinople, in 381
A.D. At this Council a clause was added to the Nicene Creed, which ran as
follows: "And (we believe) in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life;
who proceedeth from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together

is worshiped and glorified; who spake by the prophets." (Taken from James
Orr's Progress of Dogma.)
The Church of the pastsince the apostolic dayshas never, it seems to
me, given the Holy Spirit the fullest recognition, either in her thinking or
practice. With the exception of the early Quakers, who believed in the "inner
light," and the Pietists of Germany and France, with such men as Spener, and
Tauler, and Fenelon, and Madam Guyon speaking from the Bastile; and the
Irvingites, who in the nineteenth century laid a too strong emphasis upon the
gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit has not been honored as He should have
been.
The Spirit in late years has found a large place in the literature of the
Church, and is without doubt being recognized in her activities as never
before since the days of the Apostles. The Welsh revival and the great
outpourings of the Spirit in India, Corea, and China have stirred the Church
to greater expectations, and greater longings for the work of the Spirit. There
have been extravagant movements, but these ought not to deter us from
seeking and calling upon the Spirit to come in mighty power upon us. An
outpouring of the Spirit is the only remedy for the apathy and sluggishness of
the Church. It is the only remedy for our social evils, and the only check to
the growing wickedness of our land. We need the Holy Ghost to come upon
our cold churches, and stir them to life and holy activities. He alone can
sweep away our false theology, and check the prevailing heresy in the
churches. He alone can restore the Divine Christ to His lordship over the
Church, and put down the arrogant ecclesiasticisms which are crushing the
life of the Church. But how will He come, or how can He come unless we are
willing to give Him a larger margin in our hearts and services? Nor can we
expect to receive Him until we honor Him by honoring the Christ whom He
came to reveal to the hearts of men. There is a cry from many quarters of the

Church for a restoration of the teachings of the apostles, and for the
restoration of primitive Christianity. But how can this be without the Holy
Ghost? Defending orthodoxy will not bring the change. Things will remain
as they are, or rather will grow worse, "until the Spirit be poured out upon us
from on high." Then the great change will come. We must do what the
disciples were commanded by the Christ to do, "Tarry until He comes."
AUTHOR.
University Park, Iowa,
February, 1910.

The Preparation for the Descent

of the Spirit.

"I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh: and your
sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your
young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams."

On the day of Pentecost the disciples of Jesus found a

new speech, and received a clean heart. A holy fire burned
in their hearts, and they were the harbingers of a new day.
From that day the "promise of the Father is unto you and
your children."

THE PREPARATION FOR THE DESCENT

OF THE SPIRIT.
THE day for the outpouring of the Spirit of God upon the universal Church
had long been foretold by the prophets of Israel. Ezekiel and Joel had
prophesied it, but it was not until John the Baptist and Christ gave a fuller
meaning to the promise that the descent of the Spirit was looked forward to
with expectation. The promise of the Spirit did not come into full relief until
Christ's mission was begun.
God does nothing in haste. It seems at times that He has moved very
slowly across the pages of history. Man has. grown impatient, and said,
Where are the signs of His coming? Hundreds of painful years elapsed
between the promise given to Abraham, that his seed should inherit the land
of Canaan, and the entering of the people under the command of Joshua.
Weary centuries passed between the promise, "The seed of the woman shall
bruise the serpent's head," and the crucifixion of the Christ. God makes great
preparation for all His work. He works in eternity and for eternity, and time
is not an element in His working. "A thousand years is with the Lord as one
day." From the time sin entered the world God sought to bring about a
reunion. This was not done in the fullest sense until the Spirit came to dwell
in the hearts of men. God moves on through the centuries toward great
consummations and permanent things in redemption. There are no backward
movements in the work of God, but I think I can say it without being
irreverent, that there are hindrances to His plans. Is it not a legitimate
question to ask why this long delay before the Spirit came to dwell in the
hearts of men? Is not the answer to be found in the presence of sin and the
stubbornness of the heart of man? How many times God has had to take a

new start; as in the case of Noah, and Abraham, and Moses. It is certain that
the mind of man had to be prepared before the Spirit could come.
In the order of this preparation we mention, first, the giving of the law of
Moses. Abraham had been called: a patriarchal people and a nation prepared
to receive the divine law that was to be an education in righteousness, and a
revelation to man's heart of his inability to serve the righteous God. Man tried
to save himself by winning back the favor of God, and in order to show him
the impossibility of doing this God gave him a divine law without the grace
to keep it. The law was holy, but it could not make man holy. "For the law
made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the which
we draw nigh unto God." "For if the first covenant had been faultless, then
should no place have been sought for the second." The law was given to
reveal man's depravity, and his incapability of pleasing God without that
"faith which worketh by love." "The law worketh wrath: for where no law is
there is no transgression." Paul says, "I was alive without the law once: but
when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the
commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." After
the giving of the law God made provision for its breaking in the sacrifices
instituted to take away sin. As one has well said, "God did not intend man to
climb Mount Sinai alone." It takes love to fulfill the law, and this love is
"shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." The law
revealed unto man the exceeding sinfulness of his heart. It showed him the
"body of death," which made him the "wretched man." The law was the
pedagogos to bring him to Christ. It is very necessary to reveal to man his
great need before God can lead him on to better things. This was the great
mission of the law: to make man hunger for the "righteousness which is of
God by faith." No man is ready to be filled with the Spirit until he sees that
his own righteousness, which is by the law, does not bring peace.

The next necessary step in the preparation for the descent of the Holy
Spirit was a dispensation of truth.
This was brought in by Jesus Christ, "for the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." He said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and
the Life." "No man cometh unto the Father but by Me." He said to his
enemies, "I tell you the truth." The disciples did not understand many things
the Master taught them, and He left many things for the Spirit to reveal, but
the truth He did preach ploughed through their darkness, and dispelled much
of their ignorance. "The light shone in darkness, and the darkness
comprehended it not," but it broke the power of that darkness, and made a
way for the Spirit of truth to come and complete the work. There are many
things Christ could not reveal to His disciples, because there are some truths
that the reason can not grasp; truths that can only be felt with the heart, and
be received by revelation. "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye can
not bear them now, howbeit, when He the Spirit of truth is come, He will
guide you into all truth." You must plow and sow before you can expect an
harvest. Christ's preaching prepared the hearts and minds of the disciples to
receive the Spirit. As John went before the Christ to "make the paths of the
Lord straight," so Christ went before the Spirit to prepare the minds of His
disciples for His coming. The purpose of Christ's coming into the world was
to prepare the way for that divinity of nature which comes to man when the
Spirit comes to dwell within. He came not to make converts, but to prepare
a company of His people to receive the Holy Ghost. Just as John had told his
disciples, "I indeed baptize you with water, but there cometh One mightier
than I, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy to unloose, He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and fire," so Jesus told His disciples that "another
Comforter should come." Preaching the truth is as essential to the coming of
the Spirit in great power upon the Church as the sowing of seed is essential
to the harvest. Truth must go before breaking up the fallow ground, and

preparing the hearts of men for the Spirit's coming. "He that goeth forth
weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again rejoicing,
bringing his sheaves with him." Where truth has not been planted in the
hearts and minds of men, you need not look for a harvest of souls. The Spirit
of truth responds to truth as the steel flies to the magnet. Ye who are sowing
in tears remember that the "word shall not return unto Me void." There can
be no great revival of religion where truth has not been faithfully preached.
Jesus said, "I sent you to reap whereon ye bestowed no labor," but let us not
forget that some one has labored. Some Paul has planted, and some Apollos
watered, or God had not given the "increase." Great revivals are always
preceded by the faithful preaching of the truth. The churches that hold the
"truth in unrighteousness" need never expect a revival. Whenever did you
hear of a revival breaking out in a church where the great essential doctrines,
if not denied, are neglected? We are commanded to "sow unto ourselves in
righteousness, and reap in mercy." For "whatsoever a man soweth that shall
he also reap." If we sow frivolity in our churches, may we expect to reap
sincerity and serious life? If we sow irreverence, may we expect to reap love
for God and His Word? It can not be so. We must have truth planted in the
minds before we can expect truth to spring up in hearts. Christ blazed the way
for man's soul liberty. He drove the thieves from the temple of the mind, as
He drove the thieves from His Father's house. He "opened the eyes of their
understanding that they might understand the Scriptures." After that their
hearts "burned within them as they walked and talked with Him by the way."
But the inner mind was not opened until He, the Spirit of truth, came. We can
easily trace the path to great revivals through the faithful preaching of those
who have gone before. Christ's ministry had its preparation in the work of
John the Baptist. The Waldensians and the Friends of God went before
Luther. Baxter, Bunyan, and many non-Conformists by their faithful
preaching paved the way for the work of the Wesleys. And this is the great
mission of truth: not to save but to make ready the soul for the coming of the

Spirit. It is to break the power of ignorance, and prepare the soul for that
greater freedom whereby the soul is made "free indeed."
But the Spirit could not come until an atonement had been made for sin.
I know the spirit of our times denies the necessity of such an atonement, but
the Scriptures clearly teach that such an atonement must be made before man
and God could be one. "Being reconciled by His death, we shall be saved by
His life." The death of Christ in some mysterious way becomes the ground
of that reconciliation. The past must be forgiven, and the death of Christ is
the ground of that forgiveness. The vicarious sufferings of Christ satisfy the
rectoral demands of the moral government of God, so that He may be just,
and at the same time the Justifier of the ungodly. And He "who through the
Eternal Spirit offered Himself up to God," did so that He might open the way
to God for sinful man. The moral influence theory of Abelard and the modern
rationalistic school is not sufficient to meet the demand, either of the
Scriptures or of the consciousness of man. Sin had to be removed judiciously
before the Spirit could come to the heart of man. Christ took "sin out of the
way, nailing it to the cross," and made a "propitiation for our sins, and not for
ours only, but for the sins of the whole world." There must be an objective
soteriology before there can be any subjective experience for man. Difficult
as it is for man to understand, nevertheless it is written on every page of
existence, "that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin."
The Spirit does not witness where this truth is denied.
"The Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God."
This is the only theology that has brought spiritual regeneration to
mankind, and it is the only theology that the Holy Spirit has blessed with
great revivals of religion. The preaching of all the great religious reformations

of the Church has had this great truth of the atonement for its background,
and whenever this truth is given up for the Socinian theology, that man is
saved by the example Christ set, revivals cease, and the Church becomes
latitudinarian. Through the death of Christ we may now draw near and
receive the Comforter. And this is the philosophical order, as well as the
Scriptural order. "Be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Philip Henry resolved to "preach Christ in a crucified style." It is the
preaching of Christ in "a crucified style" that the Spirit honors and blesses.
The Spirit can not accompany with power the preaching of philosophies,
ethics, sociology, literature, and such subjects which have no relation to the
great redemptive theme of the cross. The Spirit was not yet given because
Jesus was not yet glorified. And the death of Christ was His glorification.
Preach the cross of Christ, and the Spirit will be present in convincing,
regenerating, and sanctifying power.
But Christ must also be raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand
of God before the Spirit could descend, for He said, "It is expedient for you
that I go away: for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but
if I depart I will send Him unto you." And having finished His great work,
and having ascended to the right hand of God, and "having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now
see and hear."
But not only is this great work of Christ necessary as a preparation, the
disciples themselves must be prepared further for the coming of the Spirit.
False hopes must be dispelled. Christ's death has blighted their false hopes in
the immediate setting up of His temporal kingdom, for which every earnest
Jew longed. We can see in the behavior of the disciples that they still

cherished this hope, for almost the last question they put to Him on the eve
of His departure was, "Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom
of Israel?" And, although the death of Christ did not give them full
understanding on these matters, it sobered their thought and made them
serious men. Their very discouragement and disappointment was a
preparation for the Spirit's coming. Man must be reduced before he can be
enlarged; must be emptied before he can be filled. There is a vital relation
between this "subdued sadness" and the readiness of the disciples to receive
the Spirit. It is to the humble and contrite spirit He comes, and never to the
self-sufficient. The Master had said, "Ye now have sorrow, but your sorrow
shall be turned into joy." Great revivals are always preceded by great trial of
faith and great emptiness of soul. The soul that says, "I am satisfied," "I got
it all in conversion," is in no condition to be filled with the Spirit. "He giveth
more grace to the humble." It is to them "that hunger and thirst after
righteousness" that "shall be filled." "Good enough" feels no need, and the
feeling of need is essential to the enlargement of the soul life. O God, show
us our great need, should be the prayer of God's people. Remove the false
hopes by the stroke of Thy hand. Strip us of our human dependencies, and
make us humble children. Before the baptism of the Spirit there is a sinking
out of self. The "corn of wheat must first fall into the ground and die." Peter's
impetuosity must give way to a deep humility, and he must know and feel his
weakness. The self-righteousness of Saul must be blinded by the "light that
is brighter than the noon-day sun," and he must be led by the hand of another
before he is a fit or willing subject for Ananias to lay his hands upon. Many
of God's children are too self-sufficient; too successful; too full of their own
works and plans; too well-informed with their own thinking to receive the
Holy Spirit. Our theories and our theologies are our great hindrances to a
baptism of the Holy Spirit. We have made void the Word of God by our
traditions. Sometimes we are too full of the "how to attain" to attain. We
must be childlike to enter the kingdom at any one of its gates. There is no

spiritual attainment possible without humility and simplicity. There must be

on the part of the Church a real sense of its need, a deep and sincere
confession of that need, with a hunger and thirst that can not be satisfied with
less than the indwelling Spirit before she can be baptized with the Holy
Ghost. The Spirit came to the disciples, who found life disconsolate without
Christ. He came to those who hung tremblingly around the cross; to those
who wept at the tomb; to those who felt that when He left them their sun had
set for the last time, and that their great comfort had gone. He said to them,
as they stood sorrowing about him, "I will send you another Comforter." The
proud, self-sufficient soul can not receive the Holy Ghost. No man receives
a clean heart who does not cry from the depths of an anguished soul, "Create
within me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." The "O
God" fathoms the heart cry of David's prayer. "In the last day, that great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture saith, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit, which
they that believe on Him should receive."
John Wesley returned from Georgia discouraged, broken-hearted, and
almost hopelessly cast down by his failures, but to have his heart "strangely
warmed" in the Moravian mission. Savonarola, who wrote to his mother that
his preaching did not move the heart of a chicken, returned to Florence, to
turn the wicked city to repentance. John Tauler, the humble priest who was
willing to be instructed by his humble peasant, Nicolas, was mightily filled
with the Holy Ghost. He comes, this gracious gift of God, to the soul who
says, "I can not go another step; I can not do another thing; I can not preach
another sermon; I can not give another testimony; I am undone, and I must
wait for Him." I think that was the feeling of the disciples as they waited in
the upper room. There is a deep meaning in those words, "Tarry ye."

There is another phase of preparation for the descent of the Spirit often
overlooked by the Church, and that is the supernatural appearance of Jesus
after the resurrection. The disciples must get acquainted with the
supernatural. Many people are afraid of the Spirit. The disciples had shown
alarm on several occasions when Christ came in a supernatural way, and if
they are to be filled with the supernatural, and become the messengers of the
supernatural, they must be accustomed to the supernatural. The disciples were
not made afraid by the "mighty rushing wind," nor were they alarmed at the
"tongues of fire" that sat upon their heads. They had felt the touch of the
supernatural hand, and their hearts had burned as He walked and talked with
them by the way. We ought to expect the Spirit to work mightily within us.
Let us trust the Supernatural to work, and He will work. The soul that has
been "turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the
power of God," will not be afraid of the true demonstrations or spiritual
manifestations which often accompany the descending of the Spirit upon the
Church in power and great glory. It is a pity that there is so much fear of the
Spirit's working, and perhaps it's a proof of the unprepared condition of God's
people for the fullness of the promise of the Father. If we are startled at the
Master walking on the sea, what will be our fears when He comes in great
power and glory on the clouds of heaven, accompanied by the hosts of
heaven?
Prayer was essential in the preparation. The Spirit never descended on a
prayerless people. The people must be essentially
"One in faith and doctrine,
One in charity."
They must be of one mind and one accord, and in one place. The Spirit is the
Spirit of unity. He is not the author of confusion and discord. He is love and

harmony. Prayer is a unifying force. The Spirit came to Cornelius because his
prayers and alms had come up before God, and God said to Ananias, "Go to
Saul, for behold he prayeth." The Spirit comes in answer to earnest prayer.
Christ said, "He is more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him,
than ye are to give good gifts unto your children." We shall not have to urge
the Promiser to fulfill the promise. Our duty is to tarry; to wait in holy
confidence and trustful expectation. Have you noticed that the Spirit "filled
the house where they were sitting?" They were in that waiting attitude when
He came. Prepare thy heart before the Lord, and if the "vision tarry, wait for
it." Yield thyself up to God, and tarry. How long? I can not tell, for He only
knows when your heart is ready.
This chapter would not be complete without saying a word about the
choosing of Matthias to take the place of Judas. It is true, there is no record
that Jesus told them to do such a thing, and so some have thought that it was
an impetuous mistake made by Peter. Is it not more likely to be the truth that
it was necessary to complete the twelve before the Spirit came? Had it been
a mistake, the Spirit would have corrected it afterward. It is true we do not
hear of Matthias afterward, but there are other of the chosen twelve that we
do not hear of after Pentecost. Some think that Paul was the one God
intended to take the place of Judas, but if that had been so, surely Paul would
have used this as an argument when he wrote his defense of his apostolate to
the Corinthian Church. Had it been considered a mistake the Spirit would not
have inspired Luke to write the account, but immediately following the
account he says, "And when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were
all with one accord in one place."

The Baptism of the Spirit.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost

is come upon you." ACTS 1:8.

"It is the work of the Holy Ghost to destroy the work of

sin, and thereby open a fountain within of things good and
heavenly; so that by purifying the fountain He makes the
stream pure." WATSON.

THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT.

AFTER "speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God," Jesus,
before His ascension, commanded His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem and
"wait for the promise of the Father," adding these words, "For John truly
baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many
days hence." At some later time, "When they were come together, they asked
of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to
Israel?" And He said unto them, "It is not for you to know the times or the
seasons which the Father hath put in His own power, but ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost parts of the earth."
This passage of Scripture is the locus classicus of the Pentecostal Church.
About this Scripture two schools of thought and two modes of interpretation
have grown up. One teaches that this power is for service, and the other that
it is for the sanctifying of the disciples. The first school seems to exclude all
idea of the purifying work of the Spirit, while the other insists that the Spirit
empowers for service by cleansing the heart. The first school claims that the
disciples were clean before Pentecost, and the other that they were only in a
state of regeneration. I do not know that I can add anything to what has
already been said on this subject, but I would like to clear the ground a little
of some misunderstandings about this passage of Scripture. In order to do so,
we must go back a step or two for the interpretation of another passage. On
one of Christ's "showings of Himself," after His resurrection, when the
disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their
midst, and said to them again, "Peace be unto you: as My Father hath sent

Me, even so I send you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them,
and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whosesoever sins ye remit,
they are remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are
retained." I am not satisfied with the commentators on this passage, and I
wish to modestly suggest an interpretation. Whedon says: "This was not that
full bestowment of the Holy Spirit which was received at Pentecost, by which
miraculous powers were conferred for the government of the Church after the
departure of Jesus," but an empowerment by the Holy Ghost to remit the sins
of all who accept the Gospel by faith." I do not think it has to do with the sins
of those who accept the Gospel. There is doubtless a sense in which the
apostles were given the power of absolution, but it was not the absolution of
sins concerning the Gospel. That is the Roman Catholic error of priestly
mediation. I do not think that in this case the apostles received any such
power "to dispense release from the power and guilt of sin to those who are
penitent, and to retain under its condemnation those who are incorrigible," as
Whedon says, and as the Catholic priest claims the power to do. I think this
was an authority given to them by Christmas the pillars of the Christian
Church about to receive its induction through the power of the Holy Ghost.
It is an authority given to them to settle matters of the Church, and to decide
the policy of the Church in matters of discipline and government. There are
two other passages which speak on this subject, and one of them leads me to
give this interpretation. The first is in Matt. 16:19, "And I will give unto thee
the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth
shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be
loosed in heaven." There are many interpretations of this passage, which I can
not take up now, but the other passage in Matthew is the one that seems to
throw light upon the subject. This passage is in the 18th chapter and the 18th
verse. He is speaking in the context of the brother under discipline, and He
says: "If he neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to
hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."
This seems to be the interpretation the apostles put upon these words. We do
not find them claiming to have the power to forgive sin, but we do find them,
as at the Council of Jerusalem, deciding the polity of the Church in questions
pertaining to discipline. And so the early Church taught at least those sects
that were strict in their discipline concerning the Lapsi, or those who had
fallen away from the Gospel during persecution. Montanism said, "A total
lapse, by sacrificing to idols, excludes from restoration to the church, though
not necessarily from divine forgiveness."
Thus it was the divinely appointed, authoritatively commissioned disciples
of Jesus who tarried for the power of the Holy Ghost in the upper room of
Jerusalem. We must take another step before we inquire into the real nature
of the baptism of the Spirit. And that is to consider the question that gave rise
to the words of Jesus. The disciples have put the question to the Lord, "Wilt
Thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?" And Jesus answers,
"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put
in His own power." Now notice Jesus does not deny that the kingdom is to
be restored again to Israel, but turns their attention to the work they have at
hand, namely, to "be witnesses unto Me." Bengel remarks, "The thing itself
is true, otherwise there would be no time for the thing."
But what is the nature of the power they are to receive, "the Holy Ghost
coming upon them?" Certainly the idea of service is not wanting in the
context, but the general idea conveyed in the statement "power for service"
does not satisfy the content in this experience. The baptism of the Holy Ghost
is not to make Christians greater preachers, or greater workers, but better
livers. All Christians are not called into public service for the Church. Some
are exhorted to "be discreet, chaste, keepers at home," but the gift of the Holy

Ghost is for all believers. This kind of power had been given to the disciples
in the early part of Christ's ministry. He had given them power "to heal the
sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils." It is another kind of
power they need. A moral and spiritual power at the center of their being to
keep them holy. A study of the condition of the disciples before Pentecost,
and the study of the moral and spiritual change which came to them after
Pentecost will help to decide the nature of the power which they received.
They are ambitious, and unstable in their faith. Christ finds them in a room,
the "door being shut for fear of the Jews." They were impetuous, and would
call fire down from heaven upon the impenitent Samaritans. They are
unbelieving, and of "little faith." Now all this is changed after Pentecost, and
shows that the Holy Spirit had effected a great moral and inward change.
What greater power can a man have than a clean heart, a heart free from
inward corruption, and free from itself? "I have the strength of ten, because
my heart is pure." Have we not misunderstood the meaning of the word
power, so that many who hear about receiving power after that the Holy
Ghost has come expect some great force to possess them that will lift them
into prominence in the Christian community where they live? This is quite a
general idea, and as dangerous as it is general. Having a false idea of what
they are seeking, they are led to seek selfishly for a power, when they should
be seeking humbly for the sanctifying grace of God to cleanse their hearts
from all sin. There is pride in seeking for power. Certainly this power was a
purifying power, and so the disciples understood it. When Peter spoke in the
Council, he said, "And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness,
giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and put no difference
between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith." We certainly do a great
injustice to the work of the Holy Spirit when we speak of His coming only as
power for service. To hold this doctrine is to make no advance whatever upon
the Old Testament standard of life. The Old Testament saints were
empowered for service, but "He that is least in the kingdom of heaven is

greater than John the Baptist." The Spirit is spoken of as our sanctifying
power. Let us look at the work He does in the heart, as mentioned by the
apostles. Working miracles was not the end sought in the coming of the
Spirit. He had bestowed this gift on the Old Testament saints, and Christ had
given this power to His disciples before Pentecost. It is not statednor is it
probable that all those in the upper room were able to work miracles. Many
of them were never heard of by name. They probably went to their homes,
and witnessed for the Master in daily, holy living, and patient testimony. "For
the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost."
Paul prays for the Roman Church, "Now the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power
of the Holy Ghost." The Holy Ghost brought great hope to their hearts.
Another result of the baptism of the Spirit is the being made "perfect in love,"
"for hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Love is spoken of as the
fruit of the Spirit. And what greater power is there in the service of our
Master than this divine love shed abroad in our hearts? Paul says, "It is the
love of Christ that constraineth us." We shall not fall short in our service for
our God if we love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. "Love
never faileth." But Paul would have us "strengthened with all might,
according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness." How often our work for Christ is marred by our impatience! The
baptism of the Spirit will make us patient, and longsuffering in our trials, and
joyful in our tribulation. That is what we need the Holy Ghost for: to keep us
patient when things are going wrong; to keep us loving when men misuse us;
to make us forgiving when we are wronged. We thus see by these passages
that the baptism of the Spirit works a great change in the moral and spiritual
nature. The true value of a man's service to Christ is in terms of holy living.

Many shall come up in the last day and say, "We have done many mighty
works in Thy name," but He will say, "Depart, ye cursed, I never knew you."
The first thing we need is a clean heart, and power for service will follow. We
shall have no need to pray for power for service if we will do the whole will
of God, for the Holy Ghost is given to them that obey Him. Yes, there will be
power in your life; power in your ministry, when the Holy Ghost is come.
Without Him our preaching is in vain. It is only when He unctionizes the
message, that there is power to convince, and convert, and sanctify the soul.
And this is the power we need; the power of a lasting hope; the power of an
inward peace; the power of abounding joy; the power of a great patience, and
the power of a loving heart. But some have said, Must I not have a clean heart
before the Holy Spirit can come into my heart? Can the Holy Spirit come into
a heart that is not clean? I shall answer yes, for if He can not, then I despair
of ever having a clean heart. It is true, He can not come into a heart that is not
willing to be clean; He can not abide in a heart that is not clean; but if you
will let Him, He will come, and
"Burn up the dross of base desire,
And make the mountains flow."
When you open the window to let in the fresh air, it comes in and drives the
foul air out. Is it one or two transactions? In your seeking for the clean heart,
the Spirit is preparing the heart for His coming, but the power of inward
corruption is not broken until He enters the heart and takes up His abode
there. The divine life imparted by the Holy Spirit is a great working force.
"There was such an infusion of divine life in them that they could not keep
still. The activities of their souls were so intensified that they became an
earnest, stirring, and successful body of men and women." Truly, we may say
in the words of another, "The Holy Spirit comes into the soul, and
consciously applies the blood, and transforms, and seals, and sanctifies it."

The baptism of the Spirit empowers for service by destroying the carnal mind
and filling the heart with His personality. "Create within me a clean heart, O
God, and renew a right spirit within me, then shall sinners be converted unto
Thee."

The Spirit in You.

"But ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you and

shall be in you."

"From the lowest fetich up to the highest theistic

conception, the doctrine of divine and spiritual indwelling
is the attribute of all known religions on this earth."

THE SPIRIT IN YOU.

IT IS sometimes said that there are three dispensations. The dispensation
of the Father, when God revealed Himself to men as Creator, and men
learned of God through nature. This has been called natural religion. The
dispensation of the Son, when God spoke to man through men, this
dispensation culminating in the advent of the Son of man, who came to reveal
the Father. This dispensation began with the verbal law given to Moses on the
mount. God spoke through men of old, moved by the Holy Ghost. Then the
Spirit dispensation, beginning at Pentecost and ending with the coming of the
Son of man to judge the world.
I. Ye know Him for He dwelleth with you. Let us look at the meaning of
these words. The Spirit has always been operative in the world's redemption.
He has ever acted with the Father and Son in the plan of salvation. He moved
upon the face of the waters. He assisted Abel in making an acceptable
sacrifice. He revealed God to man through nature. He spoke to man's heart
through the lips of the prophet, and the priest sacrificing at the altar. Unless
the Spirit had been in the offering of the lamb, there could not have been an
atonement made for the sins of the people. The Spirit has dwelt with all men
in all ages. There is not a savage in jungle forest that has not been influenced
by the Spirit of God. He has dwelt in men in moral influence. Whatever there
is of pure morals in the heathen world, the Spirit of God is the author of
them. There could be no pure thought without His promptings. Whatever
there is that is high or lofty in the unchristian world is due to the fact that the
Spirit of God has been dwelling with men ever since Adam and Eve left the
Garden to struggle back to virtue and Edenic bliss. He was with the nations
of antiquity. He has brooded over their moral night, and perhaps wept over

their sins, as Jesus wept over the sins of Jerusalem. He controlled these
nations to the glory of God. He called Cyrus to the service of God, as well as
Abraham. He was with men in restraining influence. To their worldly
schemes He said, "Thus far shalt thou come and no farther, and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed." He put confusion in the camp of the Philistines, as
well as courage into Gideon's three hundred. He stopped the vandal hordes
that threatened to crush the Church of Christ. He stopped the forces of Islam
from overrunning Europe, and turned the tide of Napoleon's power. The
Spirit has always dwelled with men. He has arrested the hand of the
murderer, and has thrown around the sinner's path a high wall to prevent Him
from slipping into perdition.
There is an especial sense in which He was with the chosen people of God.
They were chosen out of the nations to be the oracle of God's message to the
world. They were an elect people. The Spirit dwelled with them in a large
measure. He came upon men of that nation as He did not come upon men of
other nations. He inspired Moses with great wisdom to give laws to the
people, and history is proof of the superior excellence of those laws. He
inspired David with song, and the Psalms are easily the best poetry in the
world. Great prophets arose under His mighty touch. They dreamed dreams
and saw visions. They wrote classic verse, and stirred nations under His
influence. They rebuked haughty princes and wicked kings when He came
upon them. He turned again the captivity, and built again the ruined nation's
faith. And still He only dwelt with men. Judaism was a religion of outward
conquest. The law was written on tables of stone. The temple was built of
stone. The religion was one of outward form. It was a legalism. A beautiful
ceremony not to be despised, because God was the Author. The Spirit was the
Author of all this, but to do His grandest and most divine work, He must
enter the heart of man. The Spirit dwelling with man does great things for
man. It is not a small work that the Spirit does for a man when He dwells

with him. He rebukes, and teaches, and comforts, and incites to lofty ideals.
Some heathen have reached a higher moral standard than plenty of men
professing to be Christian. The Spirit dwelling with man is an outward
authority, and an outward authority can not do the greatest thing for man in
redemption. The law can only be a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. It is
just at this point where all religions having only outward authority fail. The
law could not make men holy. It could only bring consciousness of sin. The
Spirit dwelling with man shows him the need of the indwelling of the Spirit.
"The letter killeth, it is the Spirit that giveth life." The prophets saw the
weakness of Judaism, and spoke of a day when God should put His Spirit
within man, and cause him to walk in the divine way. The Spirit can do only
a limited work until He gets within man. He can check the life, and restrain
the actions to a degree. He can comfort in a measure, and guide the life at
times, but He can not do the great things for man until He gets within. To
study the lives of the disciples before and after Pentecost will aid us in
understanding the great difference of the work of the Spirit when He dwells
with man, and when He reigns within.
II. He shall be in you. Now this is more than a blessing. This is a
difference of a dispensation. There was a great difference between the natural
religions of the antediluvians and the revealed religion of the Jew. But the
spiritual religion of Jesus and Paul is as much higher than Judaism, as
Judaism is higher than natural religion. Ezekiel saw this day, and said, "God
will put His Spirit within you." The dispensation of the Son did not close
until Christ ascended. The Spirit was not yet givenas an indwelling
Spiritbecause Christ was not yet glorified. There are messages that can not
be received from outward voices. There were truths that Christ could not
reveal to His disciples because there are truths that language can not convey
to the soul. The disciples were not yet spiritual men, and therefore they could
not understand the things of the Spirit. He had told them in the letter that He

was the Son of God, and Peter had testified that He was the Son of God, but
the fullness of the glorious fact did not dawn on Peter until after the Spirit's
infilling. Christianity is an inward principle working outward. Christianity is
concerned altogether with the inner man. Most Christiansif they can be
called Christiansare trying to obey an outward Christ. They are trying to
conform their lives to His life rather than to let Christ live in them the life of
God. "Know you not," says Paul, "that ye are reprobates, except Christ be in
you?" "Christ in you, the hope of glory." It is no longer man struggling to
obey an outward authority but man listening to the voice within, which makes
him free indeed. Christ can control the life better when He is within. An
engineer could not do much standing without the cab. God can not control the
life satisfactorily from without, hence the invitation of Jesus to the Church at
Laodicea, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if any man hear My
voice, and will open the door, I will come in and sup with him, and he with
Me." The Spirit within speaks more plainly. There is confusion of voices
without. The Spirit's voice is drowned by the many voices which clamor for
recognition. The voice of the dwelling Spirit is never heard as distinctly as
the voice of the in-dwelling Spirit, when the carnal voices are hushed in silent
death. When Jesus Christ is heard to speak alone. O! the Babel of voices
which ding in the ears of the carnal Christian. It is not any wonder that we do
not know His voice. My sheep hear My voice, for My voice is within them.
He is a Jew that is one inwardly, and not he that is one outwardly. We are not
Christians because we obey creeds, and believe doctrines, and perform certain
religious acts. We are not Christians because we obey at times an aroused
conscience, and put away certain sins. We are not Christians because we
worship a God, even though He be the true God. We must worship the true
God in the spirit, otherwise the worship of the true God is idolatry. "We are
the true circumcision that worship God in the Spirit." Now it goes without
saying that the Spirit-filled Christian can not be troubled about forms and
ceremonies. The Spirit-filled Christian will not be bound down with forms

of worship. A Spirit-filled Christian should be able to worship God through

a ritual, as well as in the simplicity of the Quaker meeting. "For it is neither
circumcision nor uncircumcision, but a new creature." God does not want His
people encumbered about many things. He does not want the heart striving
about words to no profit. He wants the heart free for Himself. Whosoever the
Son makes free, he is free indeed. "Where the Spirit is, there is liberty." God
wants us to stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ hath made us free, and "be
not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." The outer man will perish as
the inner man is renewed day by day. Is not this the meaning of Paul, when
he said to the Colossian Church, "Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly
unto all wisdom?" Why are we still subject to ordinances? Why are we still
in bondage to words? "The letter killeth, it is the Spirit that giveth life." It is
the Spirit within man needs; the life principle of God in the center of his
being. Our freedom must come from within. The tree has freedom only as it
has life within. Christ in the heart fulfills the law in that heart. "Ye are the
temple of the Holy Ghost." The heart is the Shekinah where God speaks. If
the Spirit's power is within the heart, it will break all forms and break through
all conventionalities to give voice to its freedom. Giving up the outward does
not make a man free. The disciples had left all to follow Christ, but they were
not free men by any means. Our real bondage is not in the things without, but
in the condition within. The Spirit of God in-dwelling in our nature will make
us free men. Ye shall know the truththe Spirit of truth dwelling within
youand the truth shall make you free. Paul says, "God worketh in me
mightily."
There is a sense in which the Spirit with man can be said to be in man, but
not in the sense in which He was in men after Pentecost. We find the Spirit
of God striving with man at the early stage of history, when it is said, "My
Spirit shall not always strive with man." It is also written, "And I have filled
him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in

knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship." And there is another passage

which says, "Take thee Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit."
But these passages are not to be understood that men were filled with the
Spirit in the same sense as the apostles. The personality of the Holy Spirit
does not stand out in the Old Testament, as it does in the New. Before the
ascension Christ breathed on His disciples, and said, "Receive ye the Spirit,"
but that was not the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, nor of the promise of
the Father. It was but the earnest of the Spirit. It was still the Spirit dwelling
with man, and not filling him.
The Jew did not believe in the personality of the Spirit; he looked upon the
Spirit as the breath of God: as the influence of the Divine. Christian theology
has made the same mistake. The Greek and Roman Churches divided on the
question as to whether the Spirit emanated from the Father alone, or from the
Father and the Son. The Christian Church at the present day is by no means
free from the error. Under the law He taught men, He guided men, in a sense
He filled men with knowledge and wisdom; but there is nowhere in the Old
Testament the sense of the indwelling God that we see in the New Testament.
There was nothing like Pentecost, or those subsequent outpourings and inrushings of God under the law. There is a strong sense in which the Spirit was
not yet given, because Christ was not yet glorified. There were great
reformations and great religious awakenings under the law, but nothing of the
nature of Pentecost. No such phenomenon as the scribes and Pharisees
witnessed that morning when the disciples came down from the "upper
room." The dew of a spiritual morn was on their heads. The speech of a new
day and new dispensation was in their mouths. They truly spake with other
tongues, for they were the first fruits of a new racea spiritual race that had
hitherto been unknown in all the world's history. Christ spoke of them when
He said, "The least in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist,
and he was the greatest man born of woman." In all the history of the Jews

there is nothing to compare with that display of God's Spirit. Abraham, who
believed God, rejoiced to see that day. Joel prophesied of it. Ezekiel saw it
in vision only. "Ye, and all the prophets from Samuel, and those that follow
after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days."
"Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost. He hath shed forth this which ye both
see and hear."
In the Old Testament there is no sense of in-dwelling Deity beyond that
which prophecy foretells. There could not be with a mediating priest standing
between God and man. The true high priest must be at the right hand of the
Father before God and man can be one. The Man-God must come to bring
about such a union. God can not be one with man until man is made one with
God. The middle wall of partition must be broken down. Let us not forget
that the deep significance of Pentecost is this union of God and man in one
divine fellowship. Power for service is not the great thing in the indwelling
experience. He who has God in him will not come short in any fitness for the
service of God. "It is expedient," says Christ, "that I go away: for if I go not
away the Comforter will not come." Christ was not glorified until He had
purchased man's redemption by the sacrifice of Himself, and had been exalted
to the right hand of God. The Spirit could not bring man very near to God
because of his sinfulness. Only Moses dare go up in the mount to receive the
law. The people dare not go near the mountain for fear of death. He meets
Moses in the Holy of Holies. Moses must take off his shoes before he
approached the burning bush. God went before them in a "pillar of fire by
night, and a pillar of cloud by day." They worshiped Him "sitting upon the
circle of the heavens." He was a local Deity. He is a God exclusively Jewish,
with only here and there a prophet's glimpse of His universal sovereignty.
There was no such consciousness of God as there was in Paul, but there was
all the consciousness in Abraham that was needed to please God in that day.

There was no such liberty of Spirit to be had under the Old Testament, as is
to be obtained under the New. That men like Abraham and the prophets had
a large consciousness of God, and a much larger consciousness than the many
about them, is easily conceded, but not the same spiritual consciousness as
we find in the disciples of Jesus; for, if so, wherein does the New Covenant
differ from the Old? The view of God is different. We approach God by a
"new and living way, which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that
is to say, the flesh." In the Old Testament man is seen at a great distance from
God; in the New, it is "Let us draw near," a privilege not given to the Jews,
"because Jesus was not yet glorified."
The inner springs of the human heart are reached under the dispensation
of the Spirit. Men are moved from without under the Old Testament, but they
are moved from within under the New. It was necessary for the Jew to
worship at Jerusalem. To have rebelled against the worship would have been
to disobey the Spirit. Abiram and Dathan were destroyed for rebelling against
Moses. Christ Himself fulfilled all righteousness. For Christ to have
disobeyed that which was commanded by Moses would have been to disobey
the Father. Christ Himself did not live under the dispensation of the Holy
Ghost. He never spoke against the temple worship. "If ye had known Moses,
ye would have known Me." "If ye had known the Son, ye would have known
the Son." Moses leads to the Son, and the Son leads to the Spirit. Many are
seeking the Spirit, who have not "known the Father nor Me." The Spirit is not
promised except to those who have confessed their sins, and found
forgiveness at the cross. There will be tremendous revelations when the Spirit
is outpoured. The "devout Jews were pricked to the heart."
"How will ye manifest Thyself unto us and not unto the world?"
Hear Him, what He says to the disciples, "I will send the Comforter."

Men had never lived as near God as the disciples lived when Jesus was
with them. Philip said unto Him, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us."
Hear the answer, "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." That sounded
like blasphemy to the Pharisee. That was not any easy transition to make from
the worship of a God afar off to the worship of a God close beside you, and
yet that is just the transition you will make when the Spirit dwells within.
"God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the
fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son." It is still the
outward voice, but it is the voice of the Incarnate God. God has come very
near to man in Christ, but He will come yet nearer to those who receive the
SpiritHe will abide in the heart.
To the disciples Jesus is still outward authority, but He is turning their
minds slowly away from obedience to the outward voice to obey the voice
within them. The disciples made a great leap toward spiritual liberty when
they turned away from the authority of the scribe to obey the words of Christ.
Christ is the stepping-stone from the bondage of the law to the liberty of the
Spirit. He is also the stumbling-block and rock of offense to many. He has
destroyed forever Judaism. It exists only as the dead form of a once living
faith. The Spirit has passed on into a larger sphere. That which was once alive
by the Spirit is dead without His presence. You can not put life into that from
which the Spirit of life has departed. That which was true yesterday may be
false to-day. That which was of great value yesterday may be valueless tomorrow. The Spirit moves on to final thingsto consummations. "When that
which is perfect is come, then that which is in part is done away." "Behold,
I create all things new." There was no break in the plan of God. Everything
had moved towards its consummation with perfect tranquillity of mind. There
is no hesitancy or halting upon the part of God. He sees the end from the
beginning. The Jew who had not lived up to the light of his dispensation slid
backward with the passing away of old things. If the wave of grace does not

carry us up high toward the shore, we are in danger of being carried away
with the undertow. "He said to the Jews, whither I go ye can not come." "I say
unto you, ye shall die in your sins." Why at the great rush of God were only
three thousand filled, if not because only three thousand were ready? "They
that were ready went into the supper, and the door was shut." The inheritance
is reserved for them that are "kept by the power of God ready to be revealed
in that day." "Make straight His paths, prepare the way of the Lord!" cried the
last prophet of the old dispensation, as he stood with his hand on the door
waiting to close it upon all who were not ready to enter the new. Old Simeon
went up to the temple in the Spirit to minister, and received the larger
revelation that the Infant he held was the Messiah. John was in the Spirit on
the Lord's day on the island of Patmos, and the heavens opened.
The Spirit dwelling with men comforted them in trial, caused them to
make great sacrifices, gave them beatific visions, gave them hunger for God,
gave knowledge and wisdom, anointed them for heroic service, gave them
prevailing prayer, imparted moral rectitude, lifted up a standard of exalted
righteousness, kept alive in the few the national faith, and preserved God's
people from destruction. But it is life within man needs. And the Spirit
imparts saving energy: a power within to live divinely.
An old Spartan, who tried to make a corpse stand upright, when he had
done his best gave up in despair, saying, "It wants something within." Man
needs divine power at the center of his being; a purity in the deepest recesses
of his mind; a motive power equal to the moral task an awakened and an
enlightened conscience imposes upon him. A religion that can not do that is
useless to mankind, and must be supplanted by one that can. Christianity is
that religion. "The brain of man has grown tired of transcendentalism and
sick of sentimental gush and ecstasy," and wants power to reach the highest
goodpower to be true to youth's noblest visions. Men, are tired of being

told what is right: they want power to do the right. The Holy Ghost imparts
that power. And this is Christianity. We need strength and courage to win in
the conflict against our lower selves, grace to live the ideal and holy life,
grace to walk in the steps of the Christ. Fail to do this, and it is in vain that
we have believed this and that doctrine; fail to do this, and it is in vain that
we have believed in creeds, and dogmas, and prayer-books, and beads, Ava
Marias, and Te Deums. Churches and preachers, baptisms and confirmations
have all failed, unless we reach the ideal for which we were created: to be
conformed to the image of the Son of God, and this ideal can not be reached
without the indwelling Spirit of God. Let us ask God to fill us with His Spirit.
This is the aim and purpose of our Christianity. This is the great purpose of
God: a new and blood-washed race; a glorious Church, having neither spot,
nor wrinkle; a saintship faultless before the throne of God. And this is to be
brought about by the Spirit of God dwelling in the heart of man, cleansing his
moral being by a sanctification entire.

The Great Reprover.

"And when He is come, He will reprove the world

of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment."

"The completest religions would therefore seem to be

those in which the pessimistic elements are best developed."
JAMES.

THE GREAT REPROVER.

"HE shall reprove the world of sin."
The Scriptures everywhere describe the world as lying in a state of
spiritual death. "The whole world lieth in wickedness." It is "dead in
trespasses and sin." The soul is said to be asleep. It is in darkness and
ignorance. There are laws against crimes, and there are ethical standards
which every nation sets up, and there is a struggle in the heart of the race to
throw off the darkness and climb back to virtue and godliness. The remorse
and pain which the world feels in consequence of its sin is the result of the
Spirit's conviction. Everywhere you go you will find the guilty conscience,
and everywhere you go you will find men reaching after a higher standard,
and a soul restlessness which shows that the Great Reprover of the deeds of
men is at work. The reason, perhaps, why men do not come to the birth is
because the conviction is not deep enough to work the great change. The
Spirit seems to be limited in His work of conviction by the low standards of
men. When the Church is lifting a high standard of holy living, men are under
deeper conviction. It is not of sins the Spirit convicts, but of the sin that lies
back of the sins. "Of sin because they believe not on Me." Under the law the
Spirit convicted of the offended law. In the dispensation of grace the Spirit
goes deeper and convicts the soul of its depraved and lost condition relative
to the rejection of Christ. John cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world." The great sin of unbelief lies at the root of
the fallen nature of man, and is the reason for the many sins of the human
heart. When the Holy Spirit is absent in abiding power from the Church, she
has a low estimate of sin, and attempts to reform the world. She is satisfied
with the cleansing of the outer man. She makes clean the outside of the

platter. She does not reckon on the darkness of the soul. With the Church's
loss of vision of the holiness demanded by God, she becomes satisfied with
a low standard of living. Only as the Church receives the Holy Ghost and
allows Him to reveal through her the darkness of the world will greater and
saving conviction rest down upon the world. "Ye are the light of the world."
When He is come to the Church, He will reprove the world spirit, He will go
down beneath the surface of the soul life into the sub-consciousness of the
mind, where "sin has gone deep into the nature of man," and reveal to the
soul the depraved nature and fallen condition of the heart. Without this true
conviction the Christian religion is nothing more than a system of ethics, and
men flock into the Church who are not born of the Spirit, and the Church is
the world and the world is the Church, and the Church languishes for a real
awakening among the sons of men.
It is through the awakened and Spirit-filled Church that true conviction
comes. After Pentecost the Spirit pricked them to the heart, and they cried
out, "What must we do to be saved?" This cry is from the heart. There has
been very little true conviction on the people in late years. Whenever do you
hear that cry in the modern church? And who is satisfied with the kind of
work done in the great revival meetings of our land? There is a desire to
make men Christians, but this can not be until the Spirit has awakened the
heart to its real need of the Christ. There is not the true conviction of sin
which brings godly sorrow for sin and turns to righteousness. And why?
Because there is not a recognition of the true nature of sin. There is no
recognition of the corruption of the heart. The soul bound in the darkness of
depravity is not set free, and the power of ignorance is not broken over the
soul. The most awful thing about sin is that it darkens the mind and deadens
the soul's sensibilities. Paul's commission was to turn men from darkness
unto light and from the power of Satan unto God. In the Church's nonrecognition of the Spirit's work in awakening the soul, she has fallen into the

Pelagian error of saying that man is able of his own will and without divine
assistance to turn to God. Augustine was nearer the truth when he said that
without grace man could not turn to God. We can not believe less than this:
that the soul can not turn to God without the Spirit's awakening. "No man can
come to Me"that is, to a true knowledge of Me as a Savior"unless the
Father draw him." The Spirit strives with the soul of man, and broods over
it as He brooded over the chaotic deep, calling it into form and beauty. The
difference, however, lies in this: that man has a resisting will and may stifle
conviction and defeat the beneficent purposes of the Spirit. There is much
conviction in the worldno man is without conviction save he who has
crossed the dead line and has a withered soul or a seared conscience. But
what is needed is enough genuine conviction to bring the souls of men to
genuine Christian repentance.
After these general remarks, let us turn to the nature of conviction.
The Spirit's conviction has three aspects: It reveals the true nature of sin,
the exalted righteousness of Christ, or the true standard of holy living, and the
judgment of sin in the prince of this world being cast out.
In conviction the soul is awakened. The Spirit of God works on the soul
and brings it to the realization of its lost condition. Professor James, in his
"Varieties of Religious Experience," calls this condition of the soul's
awakening "the sick soul." He, however, looks upon this condition as rather
a mental state, a sort of melancholy that is peculiar to certain morbid-minded
people. We will speak of the morbid conscience later. Certainly under deep
conviction the soul is sick enough. There are many phases of this experience.
All do not pass through the same mental anguish, for is the depth of
conviction to be measured by the mental agony. Conviction for sin is a most
painful experience. To some it comes on gradually, and to others it is like a

flash from the sky, a light "brighter than the noon-day sun," "a stroke of light
and not of lightning," such as changed the course of Paul. In many cases there
is a great gloom cast over the world, and some lose appetite and can not eat
nor sleep. A dark despair fills the soul. Many times the man is not conscious
what ails him. A certain acquaintance of mine, who was an open reviler of
Christ but who had a faithful praying wife, was awakened at midnight with
a great dread on his heart that he was going to die. He walked out into the
kitchen, and after enduring great agony for some time was led to fall on his
knees and cry for mercy. He then knew that the Spirit had awakened him.
This is not a natural disease, but the work of the Holy Spirit. I am indebted
to Professor James for some illustrations, which I think would be well to
give, although most of my readers are familiar with many such. Tolstoy says:
"I felt that something had broken within me on which my life had always
rested, that I had nothing left to hold on to, and that morally my life had
stopped. An invincible force impelled me to get rid of my existence in one
way or another. I did not know what I wanted. I was afraid of life; I was
driven to leave it; and in spite of that I still hoped something from it." In this
experience we discern the gloomy and despairing aspect with the hopeful
background which is always a mark of the Spirit's work. In this crucial hour
the Spirit does not leave the soul without hope. A more remarkable example
is from the life of Bunyan. "Nay, thought I, now I grow worse and worse;
now am I farther from conversion than ever before. If now I should have
burned at the stake, I could not believe that Christ had love for me; alas, I
could neither hear Him, nor see Him, nor feel Him, nor savor any of His
things." Again he says, "I thought that none but the devil himself could equal
me for inward wickedness and pollution of mind." He says he continued in
this state for years. This is an extreme case, but brings out the wonderful
convicting power of the Spirit, and forms the background of "Pilgrim's
Progress," as Augustine's similar experience is seen in the "Confessions."
One more will suffice to illustrate the depths of despair to which a soul may

pass under the reproving power of the Holy Ghost. This time it is the
experience of Henry Alline, a devoted evangelist of Nova Scotia, who lived
a hundred years ago. "Everything I saw seemed to be a burden to me; the
earth seemed accursed for my sake; all trees, plants, rocks, hills, and vales
seemed to be dressed in mourning and groaning under the weight of the
curse, and everything around me seemed to be conspiring my ruin. When I
awaked in the morning, the first thought would be, O, wretched soul, what
shall I do! Where shall I go?" Now, these are extreme cases, but they show
the nature of genuine conviction. The despair may not be as great in every
soul, but before there can be genuine repentance there must be genuine
despair. You will notice that in these cases there is a distaste for the world,
and a horror of sin with a longing to escape. At such a time the conscience is
very tender. Bunyan says, "I never was more tender than now; I durst not take
a pin or stick, though but so big as a straw, for my conscience now was sore,
and would smart at every touch." In conviction the conscience is made tender
to the state of morbid mindedness. The righteousness of God shines in direct
rays upon the heart, and the conscience is ripped and torn in the process. The
aim of the Spirit is clearly seen. It is to stamp the standard of holy living upon
the heart, and bring the soul to the realization of the need of a salvation from
sin. Speaking of acts of righteousness and a denial of ungodliness, Wesley
says, "All these things doth God write upon truly awakened hearts."
The main object, then, of conviction is to turn to righteousness. Distress
of soul is not the Spirit's object. There is no virtue in what is called pungent
conviction, that is, no virtue per se. When once the soul is brought to a spirit
of yielding, the work of conviction is done. If conviction does not bring to
righteousness, it is in vain and hardens the heart of the sinner. How much
conviction is needed? Enough to show you your need of a Savior. Enough to
give the soul a distaste for sin, to reveal the vanities of the present world, and
to give the soul a true glimpse of the righteousness of God. The moment real

repentance begins conviction lightens, and when the soul has laid hold of the
finished work of Christ on Calvary it ceases and the dark despair gives place
to a lively hope, and the gloomy world is turned into a "new heaven and a
new earth." It is a common expression from the newly converted, "The world
seemed changed to me, and everything was new." Not only seemed, it
actually was so, for in conviction followed by conversion things are made
new. The ground of true conversion is true conviction followed by genuine
repentance.
The depth of conviction can not be determined by the outward
manifestations. It does not manifest itself in all souls alike. Lydia's conviction
did not manifest itself in the terrified cry of the jailer, but it was just as
genuine. Some people are thrown into strong emotional states, whilst others
laboring under condemnation show little signs of the tempest raging in the
soul. This depends largely on the temperament of the person. It is a mistake
to think that strong crying is necessarily an evidence of great conviction.
Strong crying and writhing in agony may be an evidence of rebellion going
on in the soul. A study of many cases of conversion has proven that the
emotional type of conversion is not always the truest type. The deepest
conviction is that which gives the soul the greatest distaste for sin and the
greatest longing to be righteous. I do not think the fear of hell is necessary.
Fear is not the truest motive to move a soul. The fear of judgment does not
result in genuine conversion. The Spirit may use fear to awaken the soul, but
there must be more than fear to bring to true repentance. There must be hatred
for sin as such. A soul deeply convicted of sin may or may not be conscious
of this fear, but to hate sin and loathe it, and to fear to sin, not because of its
consequences but because God hates it, is the highest, or perhaps I should say
the deepest, quality in conviction. The truest conviction is the conviction for
the whole life, a conviction that says down in the deepest recesses of man's
being, "You are all wrong." That says, "You are impure, and the springs of

your being are out of harmony with God and the whole universe." A
conviction that cries out, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me
from this body of death?" from this corrupt me. Conviction for the carnal
mind is often deeper than the conviction for actual sin. Souls who have strong
convictions before conversion are likely to see their need of a pure heart
without great conviction on the subject, while those who have not passed
through so great a struggle prior to conversion are likely to pass through it
when the Spirit is calling to purity.
"The Spirit lighteth every man that cometh into the world," and it is hard
to tell just how young the soul may be conscious of the striving of the Spirit.
That the Spirit strives very young is evident by the many conversions of
young children. Some children of very tender years have passed through great
soul struggles, and at a very early age have been deeply convicted of sin. But
the period when the boy is passing into manhood is the time when the Spirit
seems to strive especially with the soul. Perhaps there are physiological
reasons for this. At such a time the mind is in a change, and the soul is
forming its ideals. It is an age of choice, and a time when all the faculties of
the soul are awake to the larger world. At such a time the soul is most devout
and most susceptible to divine influences. It is dangerous for the soul to pass
this period without spiritual change. Chances for conversion after this time
is past are not many. The Church should be in travail for its young people.
Often "a sort of psychical neuralgia" is taken for conviction, and souls who
are in a nervous condition are taken to be under condemnation. We must
distinguish between these physical and psychical states and the conviction of
the Spirit, and in no place more than in the religious meeting where emotions
are running high. In almost every such meeting there are nervous wrecks who
are very susceptible to religious appeals, and especially an appeal to
righteousness. They are very tender of conscience, and incapable of defining

their soul states. We must make a spiritual diagnosis of the case before we
undertake to apply the remedy. If a person is affected nervously, they should
be comforted with the hope of the gospel and their minds turned from
themselves. There is much religious mania abroad, and we can not be too
careful in dealing with the religious states of people. Soul destinies are in the
balance. It is cruel sometimes to see the treatment these poor souls get at the
hands of certain leaders, who can not distinguish between a soul undergoing
a nervous breakdown and a soul under the conviction for sin. No rule can be
given, but the Spirit-filled person will soon detect the difference. The best
advice I can give is to keep hands off. If the soul is under conviction for sin,
you have but one thing to do, and that is to watch with the soul and pray for
the Spirit to do the work. The soul is truly sick, and should be treated with
great care. It is a great crisis. Bunyan said, "Sometimes I would tell my
condition to the people of God, which, when they heard, they would pity me,
and would tell of the promises." If ever there is a time to weep with them that
weep, surely that time is when the soul is in travail for sin. We must not
soothe them or tell them they are all right, nor must we undertake to probe the
conscience already smarting under the displeasure of God's wrath. Some one
has said, "It is the preacher's duty to bring the soul to the judgment of God
and leave it there." When a soul is under strong conviction for sin that soul
is beyond the reach of man. In that great soul struggle there is only One who
can guide, and only One who can bring the struggle to a successful end. Many
times we spoil the Spirit's work by interference. At such a time we may turn
the soul back upon itself and make it legal. To the conscience-stricken people
who stood upon the banks of the Jordan the great preacher who had preached
them under condemnation cried out, "Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sin of the world." True conviction is the ground for true repentance,
as a true repentance is the ground for a real conversion and the rock upon
which the soul builds "the house not made with hands." If we have not had
a real conviction for sin, may the great Spirit quicken us now.

The Spirit In Repentance.

"A heart renewed, a loving heart, a penitent and humble

heart, a heart broken and contrite, purified by lovethat
and only that is the rest of man:" F.W. ROBERTSON.

THE SPIRIT IN REPENTANCE.

THIS book would not be complete without a word on Christian repentance.
A mighty change is going on in the soul during the process of true
repentance. Conviction and repentance are steps in the process of
regeneration, and must not be looked upon as entirely separate works, but
processes of the great moral and religious change called conversion. The
beginnings of the new life are already traceable in repentance. In the act of
repentance the soul is putting off the old nature and making ready to be
clothed with the new life. The Spirit works a wonderful change in the soul
during the act of repenting.
"Repentance is a personal sorrow for personal sin against a Holy God."
(Curtis.)
Repentance is the soul's yielding to the pressure of the Spirit in conviction,
and the soul's answer to the Spirit's call to righteousness. It is the soul's
willingness to have the life of God implanted in the heart. It is the soul saying
yes to God.
Repentance is not genuine unless it ends with a truly regenerate heart, and
a desire to be holy. There is a state expressed in the Greek word metamelomai
which means "to care for oneself," which is a change of purpose as a
consequence of regret or remorse. The word is used to express the repentance
of Judas. But the word Metanoeo, which means "to take an after view,"
means to change one's course in consequence of a more rational view. It
means a change of choice, purpose, or intention. Repentance is largely a
phenomenon of the will.

Repentance implies a willingness to be known and estimated according to

one's real character. A man is never in a truer state of mind than when he is
repentant, and probably he is never more humble at heart than at this time of
the Christian process; certainly he is never more honest with himself and God
than during the time of real repentance. The Spirit's work is wonderful at this
time. The soul is humble, unselfish, gentle and forgiving, and full of selfdepreciation. It is sad when a soul forgets it was purged from its old sins and
passes out into a hardened state, and often a censoriousness quite different
from the state of the soul during the time of repentance. The Spirit's work in
repentance should not be lost. The Spirit's work in repentance is an abiding
work, and is carried on into the more complete works of regeneration and
sanctification.
In the inspired Book the Spirit has given at least three great examples of
the truly penitent spirit, and true repentance can best be understood by
studying these examples.
The parable of the Prodigal is the greatest of these. Let us look at some
facts in this case. He came to himself. In repentance then there is a regaining
of the true self, or a partial regeneration; or, to speak less confusedly, a step
in the process, for we must ever bear in mind that repentance is a beginning
of the great work of regeneration.
"I will go to my father." A holy resolve is formed, and a determination to
seek the right at all costs. A man is quite a step down the road when he
resolves in the center of his being to go to God. And when a soul says, "I will
give up my bad life, I will be a new man, I will leave the past behind and turn
my face toward better and holier things," what is that but saying, "I will go
to my Father." A repentance that has not a holy determination in ita
determination that says "I can be right and I will be right at all hazards," is not

a true repentance. "The best kind of repentance is to up and act for

righteousness, and forget that you ever had relations with sin." Repentance
means getting away from sin, not "groaning and writhing over its
commission." I am not speaking of a resolve born of man's own will, but a
resolve born of the Spirit of God. There comes a time in the process of
conviction when the Holy Spirit says, "Arise, go and sin no more." When He
says, "Get up and leave the haunts of sin, break with ungodly associations,
run for your life," and "remember Lot's wife," "Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts."
"I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned." The truly penitent man is
ready to confess his sins as, well as to forsake them. The penitent soul finds
his greatest relief in the open with God. Only the wicked love darkness. Nor
is it a cheap confession, for there is agony in it as well as willingness. There
is shame also in it. It is not a bold confession, but one made with downcast
eyes, like the publican who would not so much as lift his eyes to heaven, but
smote his breast and said, "Have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner." Yes!
there is misery in it, but not a misery unmixed with joy. The sun is already
breaking through the clouds by this time. The willingness to confess has
hardly had its birth in the heart when the soul is stepping toward the Father's
house with light streaming across his path. "Make me one of Thy hired
servants." Any place in the Father's house is good enough for the penitent. It
is only after we get to be children that we ask for the seat at the right hand of
power, and seek the uppermost seats in the synagogue, and love to have the
place of pre-eminence among the brethren. It is too bad that some of us ever
leave the penitent state. And to speak truly, no Christian ever gets away from
the penitent state. It is a permanent state of the Christian life. We get away
from the state when we have need to ask daily for the forgiveness of sins, but
the penitent state is a lasting one. What a beautiful spirit this prodigal has. Is
there any wonder the Father ran out to meet him? I repeat it: the heart is never

truer, never more Godlike in Spirit than when it is in the grip of a genuine
Christian repentance; when the soul is weeping and breaking at the feet of
God.
In the other example we see the simplicity of genuine Christian
repentancethe publican in the temple. What a master stroke the picture is
of the two men going up to the temple to pray! What a contrast! What a gulf
between these two spirits! Did ever wider gulf separate two souls? I trow not.
How unnatural! how proud! how unkind! how self-righteous the one! but
how beautiful! how real! how tender! how humble the other! Which one
would you have gone home with? God went home with the publican, and He
goes home with every such spirit, and takes to His great heart every such soul
and holds it to His bosom of love until the soul is fully born again. How the
depths of the heart are stirred, and the deep of the soul fathomed in the
Spirit's work in repentance!
But repentance may be expressed in simpler language still, and be as deep
and thorough. Listen to the cry of the other great penitent, "Lord, when Thou
comest into Thy kingdom, remember me." But the same spirit is there. You
have but to repeat the words, and you feel the genuineness of the petition.
You have but to recall the awful circumstances under which they were said,
and you feel the true spirit of them. True repentance is never wordy. It is a
real and a sincere spirit finding its way back to God, led by the hand of a
gentle Spirit, and guided by the great regenerating principle of love. It is the
sorrow of God in the heart of the awakened soul, transforming and
beautifying it with the graces of heaven.
The truly penitent soul is not only ready to confess to God, but is ready to
confess to men. And why confess to man? Because God has through His Son
forever identified Himself with man, and to sin against man is to sin against

God. The sinner owes an apology to every one of the human race. He has
sinned against the human race, for no man liveth unto himself, and the Master
said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, My brethren, you
have done it unto Me." The soul does not feel quite content with the process
until he has made a public confession of sin, and a genuine repentance will
not only make him ready to do so, but there is a desire in his heart to do so.
We need not go further into the matter of confession. "The Spirit will lead
to a full confession, and there remains but one thing more to be said, and that
is that the truly penitent soul is not driven to, but wants to, make as full a
restitution for the past as is possible, not because he expects to obtain the
favor of God by so doing, but because His spirit is cut loose from all
unrighteousness, and he no longer seeks his own, and it is far from him to
want to keep the unlawful gain. His own heart is in the state of readjustment,
and that means a true settlement with all the past as far as that lies within his
power. There are some things beyond his power to make right, and the blood
of the atonement must cover them; but the atonement does not cover anything
that lies within man's power to rectify. There is very little said in the New
Testament about restitution. And why? Because the true Spirit leads to that
end. The real penitent will make such restitution.
When John was preaching repentance on the banks of the Jordan, he cried,
"Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance," for "He shall baptize you
with the Holy Ghost and fire: whose fan is in His hand, and He will
thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will
burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire."
There is one Biblical example of the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing
a soul to make restitution. It is the case of Zacchus, the publican. When
Christ had gone to be his guest, the Scriptures say "Zacchus stood, and said

unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if
I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him
fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house,
forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham." A man may have religion without
making restitution, but he can not in the very nature of the case get salvation,
because salvation means righteousness, and the man who is not ready to be
righteous can not be saved. In such a case repentance has not gone deep
enough to bring about the righteousness of God. We thus see that in real
repentance there is a strong ethical quality which makes for the soul a ground
for the greater work of regeneration. In repentance the stony heart is broken;
the soul's fallow ground is broken up, and the soul sowing in righteousness
will soon reap in mercy, for in thus seeking the Lord he will come and rain
righteousness upon him. Genuine repentance is the spiritual threshold of the
kingdom of God. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." Let us not
rush penitents through, but give the Spirit a chance to do a thorough work.
The Spirit will bring to the birth. We would have stronger Christian
characters if the work of repentance were not hurried, but in our anxiety to
make converts we push the work ahead of the Spirit's operation and thus have
prematurely born Christians, who are forever in doubt and are always
stumbling in the weakness of an abortive conversion.
True repentance will give birth to a faith that is "the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," and to a "lively hope."
Genuine repentance gives birth to faith. In the process of this cleansing
confidence in God arises in the soul. You will not have to urge a soul to
believe when he has come to the end of real repentance. The prodigal did not
doubt that the father would receive him. The thief on the cross received a
quick answer, "To-day thou shalt be with Me in paradise." The Scriptures say
the publican "went down to his house justified."

In one of my former charges, at the end of an all-day meeting, a man came

hurrying down the aisle with a wild look of conviction on his face, and before
he reached the altar he fell in the aisle and cried to God for mercy, and in a
few seconds was shouting, "You said You would do it, and You have done
it." Repentance was at an end, and faith was born. When the heart yields to
God the soul soon takes hold of the promises. It is the unyielded heart that
can not believe. "They shall not enter into My rest because of their unbelief."
And unbelief is due to impenitence. When you see a soul up and down, today
professing religion and tomorrow with the worldly throng, you may know
that they have not had a true repentance. It is so bitter an experience that
those who pass through it do not wish it repeated. "For godly sorrow worketh
repentance to salvation, not to be repented of; but the sorrow of the world
worketh death."
"There is so much false and spurious religion these days because there is
so much false and spurious repentance." Men who have had a real Bible
conviction and a real Bible repentance will not fight a real Bible holiness. It
puts a hatred for sin and a love for holiness in the heart. I can not resist the
temptation to quote at length from Finney. He says: "It is high time professors
of religion were taught to discriminate much more than they do in regard to
the nature and character of various exercises on the subject of religion. Were
it so, the Church would not be so overrun with false and unprofitable
professors. I have, of late, been frequently led to examine, over and over
again, the reason why there is so much spurious religion, and I have sought
to know what is the foundation of the difficulty. That multitudes suppose
themselves to be religious who are not so, unless the Bible is false, is
notorious. Why is it that so many are deceived? Why do so many who are yet
impenitent sinners get the idea that they have repented? The cause is
doubtless a discriminating instruction respecting the foundation of religion,
and especially a want of discrimination respecting true and false repentance."

The Spirit in Justification.

"Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace

with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

"The declaration of 'not guilty,' which the sinner comes

under by a heartfelt embracing of Christianity, at once does
away with the state of hostility in which he had stood to
God, and substitutes for it a state of peace which he has
only to realize." SANDAY.

THE SPIRIT IN JUSTIFICATION.

THE great cardinal doctrine of Soteriology is undoubtedly justification by
faith. This doctrine is the great corner-stone of Pauline theology. To
understand what Paul means by justification by faith is to understand Pauline
Christianity. Remove this from the Christian system as taught by Paul, and
the structure falls to the ground. To hold a false view of this doctrine is to
have a false view of all the other great doctrines of the Scriptures. We can not
have a true view of sanctification without a true view of justification by faith.
To be justified by faith brings the soul into its true status before God, for
it is "to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the
ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness," for a man is not justified by
the works of the law, but by faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in
Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the
works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."
The history of the doctrine has a theological interest for the student. Paul,
as is evidenced by his two epistles, Romans and Galatians, contended
earnestly with the Judaizers, who wanted to "frustrate the grace of God" and
add circumcision as a condition of salvation. The early Church soon drifted
from the "simplicity of the Gospel" of salvation by faith into a salvation
obtained by "meritorious works" and "penances" and "indulgences," until the
doctrine was a mere memory and a system of works had been substituted for
faith in Christ, from which the greater part of Christendom has never
recovered. Luther aroused the Church and called it back to the true Gospel,
and "it was the very kernel of the Reformation which puts this doctrine of
"justification by faith" boldly and clearly in opposition to the "meritorious

works of Rome," and "justification by faith was in those days the shibboleth
of the heroes of faith, Martin Luther in the van."
But it is a question in debate whether the reformers themselves returned
in the fullest sense to Paul's meaning of justification. The great value of their
work is in the denial of the meritorious works of Rome, and this is a great
work for which the Church is greatly indebted to the reformers. Luther taught
a strictly "forensic" justification, but failing to carry the work on into a heart
regeneration left the Church in "dead works," unable to "serve the living
God." Luther at the close of his life bemoaned this fact.
The English Church, which was not a spiritual part of the Reformation, left
the Pope, but did not shake off the popish errors, and was still in bondage to
works so that John Wesley knew nothing of that "justification by faith which
gives peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Wesley, through the
influence of the Moravian brethren, found peace through faith in Christ, and
the great doctrine was once more preached with power and fervency.
To-day it seems that the Church has again lost the vision, and there is a
great need of a preaching that will restore the true doctrine of salvation by
faith. In rationalistic schools of thought, the atonement, the ground of
justification, is denied, which undermines the great doctrine by destroying its
foundation, and in its place is substituted a self-righteousness which is
according to the law. There is a Pelagianism in the Church which teaches that
a man can get right with God through his own efforts, and that he does not
need the sacrifice of another to reach the moral ideal. Modern philosophy
smiles at the orthodox statement "that without the shedding of blood there is
no remission of sin," and thinks that was all right for the Jew who was taught
a propitiatory religion, but for modern enlightenment it must be put aside for
a more rational view of religion.

In evangelical circles, while the doctrine is still contended for, it is not

preached, and many people are struggling to "get right with God," and the old
cry of the human heart, "What must I do to be saved?" is being answered by
"quit your meanness," "make restitution," "do this and do that," until a neolegalism and a modern Judaism are substituted for the Gospel of Christ. By
such teaching the soul is thrown back upon itself into a helpless despair and
defeat, and "thus you weaken the faculty to feel and understand, and to realize
what the meaning is of reconciliation through the blood of the cross." Much
of our preaching makes repentance a work rather than a condition of
justification, and forgets that faith and not repentance brings peace with God.
There must be so much weeping and so much avowal and so much
determination to serve God, and the soul must be willing to do this and that
before God can justify. And what is this but a Protestant substitution of
meritorious works for the "justification by faith alone." Restitution is made
a work which will fit the soul to be justified, as one Christian said to the
writer not long since: "If I had heard such preaching before I was saved, I
should have lost hope of ever being saved, for I could never make full
restitution for my past deeds." Certainly every man who seeks to get right
with God will make restitution within his power; this is implied in true heart
repentance. But to put restitution as a meritorious work is to "frustrate the
grace of God," and deny the death of Christ as the only true ground of
forgiveness. "For suppose," says Wesley, "a sinner of any kind or degree, in
a full sense of his total ungodliness, of his utter inability to think, speak, or
do good, and his absolute meetness for hell fire; suppose, I say, this sinner,
helpless and hopeless, casts himself wholly on the mercy of God in Christ
(which indeed he can not do but by the grace of God), who can doubt but he
is forgiven in that moment? Who will affirm that any more is indispensably
required before that sinner can be justified?" By the preaching of some you
would think, to use Wesley's words again, "that a man must be sanctified, that

is, holy, before he can be justified; especially by such of them as affirm that
universal holiness or obedience must precede justification."
This idea of a preparatory holiness before justification is the great error of
the Romanists and lies at the basis of their doctrine of meritorious works.
"God, it is taught, bestows 'prevenient' grace, in order that, in the language of
the Council, 'those who by sins are alienated from God may be disposed
through His quickening and assisting grace to convert themselves to their
own justification by freely assenting to, and co-operating with, the said
grace." (James Orr.) The same writer goes on to say that, "more particularly
the preparation consists in the acquirement of the seven virtues of faith, fear,
hope, love, penitence, the purpose of receiving the sacrament (baptism), and
the purpose of leading a new life." All these the Protestant preacher finds in
true penitence and faith. Such teaching confuses regeneration and
sanctification with justification, and "takes the more perilous step of speaking
of this infused righteousness as, in scholastic phrase, the 'formal cause' of our
justification, i.e., the proximate ground on which God pronounces us
righteous, restores us to favor, and gives us the title to eternal life."
And thus grew up the erroneous system of penance, which has been such
a curse to the millions within the fold of the Roman Catholic Church. How
necessary it is that we clear the ground of justification from all this Roman
error, and get back to the true Pauline doctrine of justification by faith alone!
It is by faith and faith alone that the soul is justified in Paul's teaching, and
this was the clarion note of the Reformation. In the Council of Trent, when
the doctrine was first considered by the Roman Church, one said, in speaking
of Luther, "That said author, having commenced with attacking indulgences,
seeing that he could not accomplish his object without destroying those
works of penance, the default of which indulgences supply, had not found a
better means than the unheard-of doctrine of justification by faith." And yet

Bellarmine, the "redoubtable and uncompromising champion" of the Catholic

cause during the Reformation, says, "on account of the uncertainty of one's
own righteousness, and the danger of empty boasting, it is safest to place
one's whole trust in the mercy of God alone, and in His goodness."
And this was the faith of Paul, and Luther, and Wesley, "and the great
truth that came to themborn of a clear view of what Christ had
accomplished for them on the crosswas this, that the sinner, penitent for his
sins, has the right of free access to God, without intervention of priest,
Church, sacrament, or anything else to stand between him and his Maker; and
that God freely forgives and accepts every one laying hold on His promise in
the gospel, without works, satisfactions, or merits of his own, but solely on
the ground of Christ's atoning death and perfect righteousness, to which faith
cleaves as the only ground of confidence." (James Orr, in "Progress of
Dogma.")
In view of the importance of the subject, and in view of the fact, above
stated, that there seems to be a departure, even in evangelical circles, from the
simple gospel of justification by faith, it is well to take up the salient points
of the Pauline discussion of the doctrine. Where the emphasis is laid on
regeneration there is grave danger of neglecting the objective ground of
forgiveness of sins provided for in the death of Christ, and, on the other hand,
the theologians who lay stress on the objective work of Christ and neglect the
regeneration of the soul, the justitia infusa, pass into a dangerous
Antinomianism such as is expressed in the Catechism of the Reformed
Churches. To the question, "How art thou righteous before God?" the answer
is given, "Only by a true faith in Jesus Christ; so that, though my conscience
accuse me, that I have grossly transgressed all the commandments of God,
and kept none of them, and am still inclined to all evil; notwithstanding God,
without any merit of mine, but only of mere grace, grants and imputes to me

the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ." (Kuyper's

work on the Holy Spirit.)
The truth lies in the blending of the objective work of Christ with the
subjective work of Christ, i.e., the soul is first declared righteous in order that
it may be made actually righteous, and that with Paul is justification. The
distinction between justification and regeneration is a theological one. "Of
course action will correspond with faith. The believer in Christ, who has put
on Christ, who has died with Christ, and risen again with Him, must needs
to the very utmost of his power endeavor to live as Christ would have him
live." (Sanday.) Faith with Paul is never "a mere matter of formal assent," but
a power which worketh righteousness. Dr. Orr well says, "Doubtless, as all
the reformers recognizedand this is the element of truth in the catholic (not
Roman Catholic) doctrinesuch an act of justification can not take place
without an accompanying act of moral renovation."
Paul says, "being justified by faith" we should "enjoy peace," or "keep"
peace, not get peace or obtain peace. The coming of peace shows that there
has been a reorganization of the life: a change of heart. Therefore, here Paul
identifies the moral change called regeneration with the act of God in
declaring the sinner righteous. Certainly there is no ground for saying that a
man can be declared righteous and remain "still inclined to all evil."
With Paul repentance is an element of faith, and hence in his discussion
he does not consider it. At this point Dr. Orr says, "Penitence and faith are
inseparable elements of one spiritual state; for the faith which apprehends
Christ can only spring from a genuinely contrite heart, and, conversely, the
germ of faith in God's mercy is already present in penitence, else it would not
be evangelical penitence at all." And in a similar way writes Wesley: "And
at what time soever a sinner thus believes, be it in early childhood, in the

strength of his years, or when he is old and hoary haired, God justifieth that
ungodly one: God, for the sake of His Son, pardoneth and absolveth him, who
had in him, till then, no good thing. Repentance, indeed, God had given him
before; but that repentance was neither more nor less than a deep sense of the
want (lack) of all good, and the presence of all evil."
It might be well to say a word concerning Paul's view of baptism.
Certainly with him it is never a condition of acceptance with God in the
justifying act. The early Church fell into the grave error of baptismal
regeneration, and in the Roman Catholic Church, and in some Protestant
bodies, baptism has taken the place of justifying faith. Paul, who taught that
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision availeth anything (and here he is
talking about salvation by faith), but a new creature, would not substitute the
Christian ordinance of baptism as an essential to justification. "We must
remember, also, that in the age and to the thought of St. Paul the act of faith
in the individual which brings him within range of justification is inseparably
connected with its ratification in baptism. But the significance of baptism lies
in the fact that whosoever undergoes it is made thereby member of a society,
and becomes at once a recipient of the privileges and immunities of that
society." (Sanday.)
We can best close this chapter by summarizing the salient points in Paul's
treatment of the doctrine of justification.
Paul introduces the subject by declaring both Jew and Gentile guilty before
God; by showing that neither the moral law written on the conscience of the
Gentiles, nor the law "given by imposition of angels," was sufficient to bring
man into a state of righteousness before God. The law was a schoolmaster to
bring man to Christ. It is not by the deeds of the law that man is justified, "for
the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did, by the

which we draw nigh unto God." Paul crosses the forensic line, and passes into
the great change wrought by the Spirit of God in the justifying act, whereby
man is made a new creature through faith in the risen Lord, who is "declared
to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the
resurrection from the dead." In Paul's writings "rare instances may be found
wherein the term justified or justification is used in so wide a sense as to
include sanctification also; yet, in general use, they are sufficiently
distinguished from each other, both by St. Paul and other inspired writers."
(Wesley.)
The death and resurrection of Christ form the only ground of the sinner's
acceptance with God. With Paul the death of Christ has no atoning value
without the resurrection. The resurrection indorses the death. It is the
substantial evidence of that divinity which makes the blood of Christ
efficacious in the forgiveness of sins, and "declares Christ to be the Son of
God with power." "If Christ be not raised, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your
sins."
Justification is not an end in itself, but in order that the God of peace
"might sanctify wholly." He who preaches forgiveness of sin as an end in
itself, does not preach the full gospel, for the end of justifying the sinner is
that he might "stand complete in all the will of God" and "go on unto
perfection."

The Spirit In Faith.

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, a

conviction of things not seen."

"In a word, by the simple act of faith your personality

gathers up its faculties and powers, and, throwing itself
into the arms of mercy divine, finds the life of God in the
life of man." GEORGE DOUGLAS.

THE SPIRIT IN FAITH.

"NOW THE God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing," that
ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost." "In
believing." How very simple these words sound, and yet who has ever
sounded the depths of Christian faith? What a potential thing faith is! There
is not a step taken in the Christian process but what the soul is called upon to
exercise faith in the unseen. "What the dynamo is to the atmosphere, that
faith is to the divine within us." What wonderful things have been done, and
what wonderful things are being done, and will yet be done, by believing.
"God hath chosen us to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and
belief of the truth." It is by faith that the soul lays hold of God. "Without faith
it is impossible to please God," and without it you can not enter into His rest.
We are justified by faith and sanctified by faith, and the "just shall live by
faith." Mighty deeds were wrought by men of old time by faith, and we ask,
"Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" What is this mighty principle working in
the soul that helps Moses to forsake Egypt, "not fearing the wrath of the
king," and the people of Israel to pass through the Red Sea as by dry land,
"and subdue kingdoms, obtain promises, and stop the mouths of lions?" What
is that force in the soul of Luther we call faith, which made him greater than
the Diet of Worms, and helped him single-handed to defy a corrupt Church
and a corrupt court? Faith is spoken of throughout the Scriptures as a mighty
working force. A grain of it will remove a mountain. By it lepers are healed,
the crooked made straight, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the
paralytic leaves his bed of impotency, the withered arm is stretched forth, the
woman's daughter is cured, the centurion's servant is raised up, and the
woman with the issue of blood receives her healing. Again I ask, what is this
transcendent power the exercise of which makes all things possible to him

that believeth? What is this invisible force which commands fire from
heaven, steps into the fiery furnace seven times heated, and sits calmly in the
lion's den? It is hard to define, but it will be profitable to meditate upon so
great a power which overcomes the world.
Kuyper in his theology says, "Faith is the formal function of the life of our
soul, which is fundamental to every fact in our human consciousness." In this
sense all men have faith. We are exercising faith all the time. The business
world could not exist without this principle of trust in men. This principle lies
at the bottom of our social life. We exercise so much faith in men that
sometimes it proves our undoing. Think how many times we are deceived,
and yet we go on trusting men. It is natural to believe. It is unnatural to doubt.
It is only when we come to divine things that we doubt. Even Plutarch makes
faith the "foundation and support for piety." For he says: "In divine things no
demonstration is to be obtained, for the traditional and ancient faith is
sufficient; than which it is not possible to express nor discover a clearer
proof; but this is, in itself, a sort of underlying common foundation and
support for piety."
"The root idea of peitho, 'to persuade,' points to an action by which our
consciousness is forced to surrender itself; and to hold something as true, to
confide in something and to obey something."
In its religious and soteriological sense, the word faith has a deeper
meaning. It means to believe in a Person, and that Person, Jesus Christ. And
to believe in Christ in the Scriptural sense is to commit your all to Him in the
full surrender of your life. The surrendered life has no trouble in believing.
It is the double-minded man, "unstable in all his ways," who can not ask in
faith. When the eye is single the whole body is full of light, but when the eye
is evil the whole body is full of darkness. In the Hebrew word for faith the

root idea is, that which stands fast and does not change. The word believe
comes from a different source. The Latin word is "lubet," and the Sanskrit,
"lubh," which means to appropriate to oneself. The Dutch word "lieven"
means holding fast to something with an inward sympathy. Kuyper says,
"Faith can never be anything else but an immediate act of our consciousness,
by which certainty is established in that consciousness on any point outside
observation or demonstration."
Faith is a personal element. "Thy faith hath made thee whole." Faith and
piety are not coterminous. There is a startling fact brought out in the Gospels
that the disciples had less faith than the outsiders. Christ found greater faith
outside the circle of His disciples than within it. Christ had occasion to
rebuke His disciples on several occasions for their little faith. "Wherefore if
God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast
into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" And
again, when the great tempest arose on the sea and they cried, saying, "Lord,
save or we perish," He said, "Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith?'
When Peter was sinking beneath the waves, Jesus said, "O thou of little faith,
wherefore didst thou doubt?"
The disciples were conscious of their lack, for they prayed, "Lord, increase
our faith," and well they might, when we consider how great faith He found
in the centurion, who said, "But speak the word and my servant liveth," of
whom Jesus said, "I have not found so great faith, no, not in all Israel." And
to the woman of Canaan He said, "O woman, great is thy faith!" Never once
did Christ so speak to His disciples. And why this little faith among the
disciples?
They were too traditional and ceremonial to have great faith.
Ecclesiasticism destroys faith in the soul. We must be free men before we can

have great faith. They were fearful and hence unbelieving. We must be brave
men to have large faith. They had prejudices in their hearts, and that is a sure
hindrance to faith. When the Master stopped to talk with the woman of
Samaria, they marveled that He did so. When we ask God to increase our
faith, would it not be well to ask Him to remove the prejudices and hatreds
from our hearts, and purify them by faith? We shall find faith when we have
removed the obstacles from our hearts. We have faith, but it is impeded.
"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Moody said
when he wanted more faith he read the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel.
Let us know God better and faith will grow brighter. "We must first believe
that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." There
must be a loving heart before there can be a believing heart. "Faith worketh
by love." A censorious spirit can not have faith. Faith works only in an
atmosphere of love. Honoring men is a serious obstacle to faith. "How can ye
believe that receive honor one from another and seek not the honor that
cometh from God only?" Faith is greatly increased in the sanctified heart, for
the carnal mind is a great hindrance to faith, and faith is a fruit of the Spirit.
Then, there must be deep sincerity of life before there can be great faith, for
we can not have "full assurance of faith" unless we "draw near with a true
heart."
Our faith is further enhanced by the conflicts and trials of life. It is by
flying against the wind that the bird becomes strong of wing. It is the tempest
that makes the oak strong and defiant. God tests our faith to increase it. He
withdraws His smiling face to give the soul a chance to exercise faith in the
dark. We never know how much we do believe in God until some great trial
has come into our lives and the tempest has raged around our soul until all
seemed to give way about us; then, and not until then, do we know the power
of a trusting heart and the glory of a simple faith. Heaviness through manifold
temptations comes, "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious

than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto
praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
Faith is self-sufficient. It does not ask for demonstration. It is unbelief that
says, "Except I see the wounds in His hands and His side I will not believe."
Christ rebuked this spirit by saying, "Because thou hast seen thou hast
believed, but blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed." He
does not believe who waits for demonstration. Waiting for feeling is not
exercising faith. "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness." We must believe before we feel. There is danger in any other
course. Our feeling may be false, and hence deceiving. To make feeling the
ground of religion is to build our house on the shifting sands which the
inevitable storms of life will soon shatter to the ground. True faith will bring
true feeling, and the ecstasy born of faith is the highest feeling which the
human heart is capable of receiving. There is a "nascent belief" which
believes upon the evidence of the outward senses, and there is an historical
faith which believes because facts accord with reason; there is a traditional
faith which accepts the testimony of others, but there is a faith higher and
grander than these which swings out past intellections, past the sensibilities,
past the visible and tangible; that believes God where it can not trace Him.
When Christ was hanging on the cross and the pangs of death had laid firm
hold upon His tender frame; when the night was deepening into awful
darkness, while the ingratitude of man was piercing His soul with a thousand
agonies, His agonizing cry, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken
Me?" broke on the dull ears of the pitiless throng. But I hear another cry. It
is the cry of faith. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." That is
sublime faith. Can not we do that? When the storms of life are raging around
us and the night of sorrow is throwing its chilly mantle about us, and we sit
alone in the gathering darkness, while all sensible joy seems to have left us
and the loneliness awes us, and friends have departed, or, worse yet, they are

standing near with unkind accusations, can not we, too, say, "Father, into Thy
hands I commend my spirit," and find rest in the faithfulness of the
unchanging God above?
Let us think a moment of faith as the "law and condition of all noble
achievement." What a startling statement that is, "To him that believeth all
things are possible." In the realm of achievement faith has no limit. Think of
what has been done by faith! Think of what has been done in the Christian
centuries by the men and women who believed God! By faith Moses led the
children of Israel across the desert of Sinai and brought them to the borders
of the Promised Land. By faith he endured as "seeing Him who is invisible."
By faith Joshua entered upon the conquest of the land, and Jericho fell as the
result of a commanding faith. By faith Luther preached a justification by faith
in the face of a formal and corrupt ecclesiasticism; by faith Wesley preached
the witness of the Spirit and Christian perfection to an age of deists and
skeptics; by faith Livingstone penetrated the dark jungles of Africa with the
story of the cross, and by faith Paton conquered the wild savages of New
Hebrides. By faith martyrs have died and in all ages Christians have lived,
and if great things are done to-day they must be done by faith. This great
force is still at man's command and is waiting for some great believer to lay
hold of eternal things and bring them down to this material age. Where is the
man who will believe God? Where is the Elijah who will climb to the Carmel
of privilege and call the fire from the altar of God? Great things are waiting
to be done, but they can only be done by men of great faith.
How true it is that the "just shall live by faith!" There are times when the
soul has very little sensible presence of God, and then it is that the soul must
"press on through the agonizing darkness."

Fenelon says: "Naked faith alone is a sure guard against illusion. When our
foundation is not upon any imagination, feeling, pleasure, or extraordinary
illumination; when we rest upon God only in pure and naked faith, in the
simplicity of the gospel receiving the consolations which He sends, but
dwelling in none; abstaining from judging, and ever obedient; believing that
it is easy to be deceived, and that others may be able to set us right; in short,
acting every moment with simplicity and upright intention, following the
light of the present moment; then we are indeed in the way that is but little
subject to illusion."
But what is that faith that saves the soul? What is that faith that brings the
regenerating force and power of redemption into the heart? What is that faith
which transforms character and cleanses the soul from dross? It is a heart
faith. "With the heart man believeth, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation." But what do I mean by a heart faith? I mean, to believe in a
Person so fully that you are willing to surrender your life into His keeping
and trust in Him fully. "Faith includes in its range, therefore, not only mental
assent and belief, but also emotional and volitional acquiescence and loyalty;
in fact, all that is indicated by the terms faithfulness and fidelity." There are
two things in saving faith that I want you to notice: first, that you must
believe in a Person who is able to save you. "He that believeth on Me hath
everlasting life." Second, you must believe in that Person enough to leave
your case entirely in His keeping. "You must first believe that He is, and that
He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." Often in seeking salvation
we do not come to a Person, but to some theory of salvation we have heard
preached, and instead of looking unto Jesus we are expecting some feeling
to come over us that we mistake for salvation. It is not believing that Jesus
Christ was crucified that saves the soul, but believing that Jesus Christ was
crucified for me; and when by faith a soul lays hold of that fact, a power
comes into the heart that tells us we are born of God. Faith must have

something to rest upon, and that something is the atoning fact. "Faith in a fact
can help create the fact." Professor James, from whom the last sentence
comes, adds this, "There are, then, cases where a fact can not come at all
unless a preliminary faith exists in its coming." If this be true, then it is not
hard to understand how "all things are possible to him that believeth." Or "if
you have faith as a grain of mustard seed ye shall say unto this mountain, Be
ye removed into the sea." If faith in a fact can "help to create a fact," what
power lies within reach of the saint! The same writer I have already quoted
above says in another place: "Who gains promotions, boons, appointments,
but the man in whose life they are seen to play the part of living hypotheses,
who discounts them, sacrifices other things for their sake before they have
come, and takes risk for them in advance? His faith acts on the powers above
him as a claim, and creates its own verification." Faith, then, involves a
certain risk. It means giving up some things to obtain other things which are
not seen. Faith leaves a known land to seek the unknown. Faith risks, faith
ventures, faith speculates, faith takes a leap in the dark. I heard of a preacher
who would not undertake a revival meeting for fear he would fail and lose his
reputation. I do not want you to forget that pregnant sentence written above,
"Faith in a fact can help to create a fact." Then, faith is creative. And so it is.
What else could it be? Let us take a concrete case. You remember the woman
who had had an issue of blood for eighteen years, who said, "If I can but
touch the hem of His garment I shall be made whole." With that thought
came a willingness to risk reputation and modesty, to press her way through
the throng, and here we see the volitional element of faith; and when she had
touched the garment she was made whole. Christ said, "Woman, thy faith
hath made thee whole." Her faith in that touch had created her wholeness.
You can think of many such instances where Christ said, "Thy faith hath
made thee whole."

I can not close without citing one more passage of Scripture. When Peter
saw the "fig tree dried up from the roots," he said, "Master, behold, the fig
tree which Thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto
them, Have faith in God." I like the marginal reading better, "Have the faith
of God." "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt
in his heart, but shall believe those things which he saith shall come to pass;
he shall have whatsoever he saith." Such words as these make one feel like
crying out, "Lord, increase our faith." "Have the faith of God." God said, "Let
there be light, and there was light." Faith is behind or rather in that divine fiat.
I have stood by the sick many times when I felt that I ought to say, "Arise,"
but doubt has been in my heart and the word has failed to come forth. How
truly, then, I have prayed, "Help Thou mine unbelief." Christ says, "What
things soever ye desire, when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye
shall have them," and is not this the same as saying, "Faith in a fact can help
to create a fact?" or rather more, it says faith in a fact creates that fact.
Have we tried to have faith? Have we not thought that people who had
great faith were different to us, and we have never thought that faith was
within our reach? We have faith if we would but exercise it. Let us have faith,
such faith as will call forth from the Master the words, "I have not seen so
great faith, no not in all Israel."

The Spirit In Regeneration.

"Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit,

he can not enter into the kingdom of God."

"Unless an inward change takes place, though

surrounded by God's kingdom, we can not enter into it. The
eye, the ear can take no cognizance of this; it must be
revealed by the Spirit to the spirit." F. W. ROBERTSON.

THE SPIRIT IN REGENERATION.

"Ye must be born again."
RELIGION is not Christianity. A man may be profoundly religious and not
be a Christian. Nicodemus represents that type of religious man that is still
outside the pale of the kingdom of God. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a
member of the strictest sect of religious orders in Christ's day. Pharisaism is
strictly moral and legally pious. The outward life is correct, even to
blamelessness. "As touching the law" the Pharisee was blameless. He made
"clean the outside of the platter." He fasted and prayed and gave alms "of all
he possessed." His religion was not an inward life, but an outward
performance of religious duty. Such a religion is not to be despised, There is
value in it, but it is not a saving faith. Religion in its crudest form has its
value. To destroy a man's faith in the religion he has is to bar effectually his
soul against a purer faith. Christ did not destroy the law; He came to fulfill
it. He did not say that the religion of the Pharisee was all in vain, but said it
was insufficient for salvation. With it alone you can not enter into the
kingdom of heaven. A mere outward performing of religious duties; a
morality which has not faith as its root; a culture that is purely a human thing;
a righteousness that is a self-righteousnessnone of these has saving power.
Christ did not disparage the religion of Nicodemus, but He added to it the one
thing essentialthe new birth, "Ye must be born again." You must have
inward life and soul principle with soul power. A morality divorced from the
inward principle is like the rose plucked from its rootit is doomed to fade
and die. The form of godliness can not long continue without the power of
godliness. The branches that are severed from the vine wither and die, and
"men gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned."

There is value in morality. There is religious value in the African's fetish.

It will not do to take this away from him unless you have something better to
put as its substitute. Christ came not to destroy religious form, but to breathe
life into the formal faith of men. "He came to give life and to give it more
abundantly." He said to His disciples, "Except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye can in no wise enter
the kingdom of heaven." He did not tell the rich young ruler that the keeping
of the commandments from his youth up was a vain thing, but told him that
he lacked one thing. The virtue of the virgins did not admit them into the
Bridegroom's feast. Now, this is the substance of what Christ says to the
world: Outward morality, self-righteousness, culture and refinement,
ritualistic observance of religion, attendance upon the sacraments of the
Church, belief in certain creeds, no matter how true they may bethese of
themselves do not fit a man for the kingdom of God and of heaven. Over
against all these He puts the need of the change of heartthe new birth. In
these days of growing creeds and emphasis laid upon believing this and that;
in these days of religious fads and "new thought" and "new theology;" in
these days of Church activity and laxity of Church discipline; in these days
of organized "evangelism" and days of the professional evangelist, how much
need there is to guard prayerfully and thoughtfully this cardinal and essential
doctrine of Christianity: Regeneration! What a growing danger there is these
days of substituting a mere religious belief for the new birth! What a
superficial thing the Church becomes when its membership is comprised
largely of unregenerate people! When the Christian Church fails to show
forth this new life in Christ Jesus, it is little better than the Judaism and
Paganism which it supplanted. Ethics superior to other religions is not the
distinguishing feature of Christianity. The Jewish religion produced noble
character. The Jews may well boast of their morality. Paganism produced an
Hypatia. Paganism has had its Zoroaster and Confucius. Philosophy has had
its Socrates. "Modern Christendom has abundance of Pharisees and

Sadducees, and formalism and sensualism are not likely soon to pass away."
But what the world needs is the testimony of those who have "passed from
death to life;" of those who have been transformed by the renewing of their
mind and are able to prove what is "that acceptable and perfect will of God."
Why is there such a dismal failure upon the part of many in our Christian
Churches to measure up to the Christian standard of holy living? Why do
many prefer the false excitement of the "matinee" to the spiritual benefit of
the prayer-meeting? Why must the Church be continually urging its members
to their Christian duty, and why is there such a lack of spiritual fervor in the
meeting-houses of the Christian? Is it not because they lack the divine nature.
This is the one grand depositum of Christianity to change the heart and
implant a divine principle of life. The unregenerate man may become moral
and cultured and refined, but he can not become Christian until God has
wrought within him this new life.
It is impossible to follow Christ without this new principle within. You
can not live the regenerate life without the regenerate heart. God Himself can
not live contrary to His heart life. It is cruel to send a man away from our
altars and ask him to lead a Christian life until he has been regenerated. This
is the reason for such dismal failures following revival services. Many have
been made to profess religion, and made to believe that they are converted
when they have scarcely been awakened. They live on the religious
excitement of the hour, but they have no root of a new life, and when they are
left alone they can not stand. When Seneca had tried several times to make
a corpse stand he gave up in despair, remarking, "It needs something within."
They are not to be blamed because they can not stand. The unregenerate
nature is too weak to stand against the wiles of the devil. We must put on the
whole armor of God if we are going to stand. Many a soul has been led to
despair of ever living to please God because, believing themselves to be
converted, they find their hearts still wandering from God. They are told they

need holiness, and so they do; but they can not receive holiness until they
have been born of God's Spirit. The greatest need of a large portion of the
Christian Church of to-day is a good old-fashioned regeneration of their
hearts. Antagonism to holy living comes from unregenerate people, and never
from the regenerate. The new nature that God imparts is forever "hungering
and thirsting after righteousness." Christ never called a man to follow Him
without first calling him to leave himself. We shall not find it hard to follow
Christ when we have left all to follow Him, and He has implanted in us the
new desire of His kingdom. This is what carried Christ through this world.
He had a divine nature. He lived above this world because He was above it.
He resisted the evil because His soul hated the evil. His God nature shrank
from the low selfishness of men. He walked in the path of obedience, even
if men scattered thorns across His path, because He loved the path of
righteousness and hated iniquity. He would have suffered more to have
disobeyed. The little ermine will die rather than soil its white fur. With this
new nature the Christian standard is not too high. It is just the thing. The
atmosphere of the Christian faith is just suited for its true development. The
regenerate man gravitates Godward as naturally as "sparks fly upward." The
attraction of heaven is much greater than the attraction of earth. If an angel
were to come to earth, he would find nothing in the low pleasures of mankind
to tempt him to leave the pleasures of celestial glory. The angels fell through
aspiring to rise out of their divine appointed rank. The danger of the new man
is not so much the pleasures of the unregenerate as in spiritual pride. You will
find your religious difficulties greatly diminished when you receive this new
life within. You will find your heart wonderfully atune to the things of God.
The Bible will not be a difficult book to you then, for if you can not
understand all its teachings, you will understand its spirit, and will draw
water from the "wells of salvation." When you are dead to the world and alive
unto God, you will find no disposition to go after the things of the world; you
will find no hunger for carnal pleasures. In these days of low Christian ideal,

when people are persuaded to join the Church and are only asked to live on
the same standard as their unconverted neighbors, many are deceived into
believing that they are Christians because they belong to the Church. Their
conscience tells them they are not right, but they are as good as others in the
Church, and should there be one of God's children who lives the triumphant
life they are told that "he is cranky on religion." How the storms will shake
our sandy foundations! How the midnight cry will reveal our lack of divine
grace! How a little night visit with the Master would reveal to many in the
Christian Church the need of the new birth, the need of a change of heart, the
need of a deeper spiritual life! How many of us might discover the utter
insufficiency of our religious profession if we would cease for a brief space
of time and give ourselves to meditation and prayer! Would not the Master
whisper without rebuke, without censure, without even reproof, these words,
"Ye must be born again?" If we ceased from our Church activities and put
aside our false professions and went into the heart-searching business, might
not we, too, with Nicodemus, discover that all our prayers and all our selfrighteousness is not sufficient to give us the right to call ourselves Christians?
that to be ever so religious is to be nothing better than a Jew or a Pagan? and
that calling ourselves Christian, and nominally worshiping God as such, does
not constitute us Christians at all? Few people like to have their religious
profession questioned, but if we judge ourselves we shall not be judged, and
when we see so many being swept away by false doctrine, it is well to look
to our own foundations before the storms reveal their rottenness and
instability. Let us remember we are living in an age when it costs nothing to
make a profession of religion: a time when the world, so absorbed in its
pursuit of worldliness, is utterly indifferent to your claims until they interfere
with their pleasures. There was a time when the word Christian antagonized
the world; when to espouse the cause of Christ meant certain death. Our
danger of deception is greater now than then. The line of demarkation
between the Church and the world is fading away into oblivion. Religions, if

we can call them such, demanding no change of character, only a little

superficial culture, a little world morality, an acceptance of high-sounding
tenets, are making converts by the thousand because they satisfy the religious
instinct of the mind without interfering with its carnal desires. They do not
change society, because they do not change the heart. They seem to do great
things for the life of man, but they only make clean the outside of the platter.
There is no doubt that many of those who follow these pernicious doctrines
live exemplary lives, but the life is not vital nor real. "It keeps the outward
man from sinning, without cleansing the man within." The religion has not
changed the manit has only changed his thinking. He has accepted some
new (?) religious idea. His inner life remains the same. He has only put on a
new religious cloak. This is a poor substitute for that regeneration of life
promised in the Christian religion. A poor substitute indeed or a new heart,
a renewed mind, and a nature born of the divine will and filled with the glory
of the Eternal God. Let us not be deceived any longer with unregenerate
substitutes for the religion of Jesus Christ, which is able to make us new
creatures in Christ Jesus. Multitudes are being swept away by these false socalled religions, and the need of the age is strong preaching on the new birth.
Strong philippics hurled against these false things will not effect a cure, but
a faithful preaching of the real need of man's heart will save multitudes from
being deceived by them. There is no doubt that the unequal struggle of the
unregenerated mind has led many to clutch at these straws. The failure of the
Christian Church to meet the inquiring mind with the true doctrine of the Son
of God has been the cause of the rapid growth of such false systems as
Christian Science and Theosophy. The enthusiasm of these people is not to
be wondered at, for they have found something that for a time satisfies their
mind. They have ceased to struggle, and mistake their false rest for the rest
of faith. Many no doubt have rejected the true light, because they would not
retain the knowledge of God in their hearts, but it can not be doubted that
many seeking the truth have been turned aside after vagaries. The Church has

a great responsibility toward the inquiring mind. Multitudes are shaking

themselves up out of sleep. This is an inquiring age. Men are losing faith in
their old religious beliefs. God is turning the light on these old systems and
religions, hoary with the age of centuries. Christianity will outlive the
changing times, because it is not a religion of dogma but a religion of new
life in the soul of man. It is the only religion that can meet the need of man,
because the deepest need of man is the transforming of his nature. The
religion of the unregenerate heart is tyrannical and cruel, but the religion of
Christ imparts a gentle spirit in man, and the wild man of African forest
becomes the forgiving Christian. Civilization can not do this. It may cover up
for a time, but the barbarian is still there, and all he needs is some
provocation and he shows through all his culture the spirit of the barbarian.
Any religion that is not based upon the transformation of the man is
dangerous to society. Such religions hinder human progress and enslave
mankind. Judaism destroyed liberty. It added burdens too grievous to be
borne. Catholicism has been a curse in many countries. Formal Christianity
is as dangerous to the religious liberties of men as Paganism. "My words are
spirit, and they are life."
"That religion is the most safe, and that discipline the most merciful,
which explores the heart most thoroughly and pours the noontide into its
chambers." Christ says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." Christianity
is the world's life only as it imparts life through the regeneration of the heart
of man. The teachings of Christ may be more beautiful than the teachings of
other men sent of God; the ethics of Christianity may be more ennobling; the
character of its Founder may outshine the characters of other men;
Christianity may boast of its miraculous origin and miracles; it may point to
its rapid growth and world conquests, but this is its greatest glory, and its one
sole right to supplant all other religions: that it is able to change the heart of
man: it is able to cleanse the moral leper. It does not meet the world's sin by

denying its existence, but it provides a remedy in forgiveness and

regeneration. It not only says "Ye must be born again," but it says, "Ye may
be born again." It promises to save man by renewing his heart; to restore him
to the favor of God, not by imposing religious penance, but by imparting the
life of God in the soul. It proposes to make him a new creature, well pleasing
in the sight of God. Any religion that can not do this is doomed to failure, no
matter how great its pretensions may be or how numerous its adherents. What
Christ said to the ruler of the Jews, Christianity is saying to the unregenerate
religions of the East and their new counterparts in the West, "Ye must be
born again." And Christ says so to us all, if we have not been partakers of the
divine nature. May God work this change in all our hearts to-day!

The Spirit In Sanctification.

"But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for

you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2
THESS. 2:13.

"Once more, in justification, as we have seen, a new life

is to be found; while in sanctification an old life is to be
lost, and self-denial becomes the law of our future walk."
UPDEGRAFF.

THE SPIRIT IN SANCTIFICATION.

"God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." 2 THESS. 2:13.
THERE can not be too much written on so great a theme. The whole plan
of salvation is contained in these words. Paul says, "He hath chosen us in
Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without
blame before Him in love." In the text at the head of this chapter Paul uses
the word sanctification in its entire sweep. He means it here to cover the
entire process of bringing the soul to God.
Paul in this passage of Scripture states not merely the purpose of God in
regard to the chosen people, but the method of bringing that purpose into
effect. The purpose of God is salvation; the method by which that salvation
is reached is through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. We
have met this thought in Paul before; in fact, his theology is filled with it.
God justifies man in order that He might sanctify him. Justification is the
portal into the life of holiness, which is God's will for man. "For this is the
will of God, even your sanctification." Paul knows nothing of a merely
justified life. He knows nothing of a justification that does not imply the
entire sanctification of the whole being. The end God seeks in the forgiveness
of sin is the cleansing of the whole moral being, and the bringing of every
thought into subjection to Christ. He justifies man in order that He might
introduce him into the "grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope of the
glory of God." In justification the end sought is sanctification. We can not
emphasize this truth too much. God could not justify a man unless in his

desire to be forgiven there is also a desire for the cleansing of his whole
being.
Justification and sanctification are thus so related that it has led many good
men to consider them one and the same thing. And a casual reading of Paul's
language would lead one to think so. The Moravians taught "that justification
and sanctification are either the same thing, or are so nearly allied that there
is no true evidence of the former without an entire experience of the latter."
Much harm has been wrought by making untrue distinctions between these
two works of grace. The two experiences are closely allied. They are in
essence one, for they both look toward the perfection of man's whole being.
The idea of holiness and entire submission to the will of God is common to
both. Upham says, "There can be no such thing as sanctification without
antecedent justification." There are, however, some important distinctions
between justification and sanctification, which we will notice briefly. First,
justification has to do with the past, whereas sanctification has to do with the
present and the future. Justification has to do with the forgiveness of sins
past, whereas sanctification has to do with the cleansing of the heart from
inherent corruption, and the keeping of the soul from sin. It is the first cry of
the sinner that he be forgiven, for justification has to do with the guilt of the
past; but it is the first cry of the justified to be cleansed from all sin, and kept
by the power of God from repeating those acts whereby he was brought under
condemnation and the wrath of God. Sanctification has to do with the power
of sin. These distinctions are seen in the Scriptures. They are also recognized
in all theologies. There is no Church creed that holds them to be one and the
same thing. The Scriptures are certainly clear in this matter. Paul prays for the
justified, that "the very God of peace might sanctify them wholly and
preserve them body, soul, and spirit unto the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ." It is a state of grace to be sought and obtained by the justified.
Justification is an act done once for all; sanctification is a permanent

experience and a state of heart. It has to do not with man's past life, but with
his present relation to God. It is also sometimes distinguished as a work done
within us, whereas justification is a work done for us.
Paul uses the word very freely, and unless we understand Paul's uses of the
word it will lead to no little confusion of thought. There are at least two
meanings to the word as Paul employs it. Sanctification is not with Paul what
so many make it, an experience, but a life, strong, pure, and Godlike. It is the
fullness of God, and the "love of Christ which passeth knowledge." To be
wholly sanctified with Paul is to be wholly given up to the will of God. It is
not only to be dead to sin, but it is to be alive to righteousness. It is to be
filled with love to God and man. It is gratifying to know in this day, when
there are so many interpretations of this experience, when one is saying it is
this and it is that, that Jesus Himself has left on record what it is. It is to "love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength, and thy neighbor as thyself."
Again: To Paul sanctification is expressed in terms of otherworldliness. It
is expressed in terms familiar to us all. "I am crucified with Christ, yet I live,
yet not I but Christ liveth in me." "God forbid that I should glow save in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom I am crucified unto the world and
the world unto me." The sanctified are dead to the world, not to its holy
pleasures, not to its legitimate relations, not to its holy friendships and joys,
but to its carnal desires and worldly lusts. The sanctified are dead to its
poverties and dead to its riches. They know "how to abound and how to be
abased." They are dead to its reproaches and to its praises. The other world
has crowded this world out. The heart is lifted above the petty grievances of
this world. The sanctified love not the world, neither the things that are in the
world," because the "love of the Father is in them." Such is Paul's teaching.

Then again sanctification is not freedom from temptation. Trials and

tribulations are intensified in the holy. Temptations will be violent just in
proportion to the strength with which we resist them. "The more holy a man
is, the more violent at times will be the temptations he will be called to
endure."
There are many strange accusations made by the opponents of this
teaching, and one of them is that we claim that a man can not sin. There is a
great difference between saying that a man can be saved from sin, and saying
that he can not sin. Doubtless there are many extravagances put forth by the
so-called friends of the doctrine, but that ought not to prevent the honest man
from seeing that the Scriptures teach a life that is set free from sin.
Then again, Paul believed that sanctification is progressive. To quote
Upham once more: "In those cases where we speak of sanctification as entire,
it is still true that its entireness is not such as to exclude progress. There will
never be a period, either in time or eternity, when there may not be an
increase of Holy love." We are to grow up into the full stature of Christ. We
are still to go on to perfection. We are to go on growing in grace until we are
"presented faultless before His presence, leaping for joy." We are not to stop
growing in grace until we have apprehended all for which we are
apprehended in Christ Jesus. "There are heights, and depths, and lengths, and
breadths" of this divine love.
Sanctification with Paul is more than an experience. It is an expanding life.
In our much talk about words, let us not forget the life. Better to live the life
well, and not be able to define it, than to give the distinctions and not live the
life. Many there are who are talking much about it, and doing very little
living. Many are living it who do very little talking about it. Sanctification
stands for a pure lifefor a "conscience void of offense toward God and

man." It means to separate from the unclean thingto be consecrated wholly

to the Lord, and to love the Lord with all your heart. Let us remember, it
stands for unworldliness and other-worldliness. Sanctification is not so much
to make us unlike other people, as it is to make us like God. Paul does not
deal theologically with sanctification as he does with justification, but his
epistles are all aglow with exhortations to "know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge." He uses interchangeable terms to express this
righteousness, for which his own heart burned with inextinguishable desire.
He is not playing with words, but reaching forth for the prizefor the
righteousness which is through faith in Christ Jesus. He calls it holiness,
justification, sanctification, perfection, renewed in the spirit of the mind,
putting on the new man, transformed by the renewing of your mind, filled
with the Spirit, and filled with the fullness of God. He exhausts language to
describe the great salvation in Christ Jesus, and that righteousness which he
believes attainable through the "sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the
truth." It is not a dogmatic sanctification Paul is preaching, it is not a theory,
but a pulsating life, a pure heart
"A heart in every thought renewed,
And full of love divine;
Perfect and right and pure and good,
A copy, Lord, of Thine."
It is purity in the deepest recesses of the mind, an abandonment to the will
of God that is complete and entire. "Teach the young women to be sober, to
love their children, to love their husbands; the aged women also, that they be
in behavior as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much
wine." This is Paul's meaning of sanctification. That we live soberly,
righteously, and godly in this present world, looking for the appearing of the
great God and Jesus Christ our Lord." This is what Paul means by

sanctification. That we be not high-minded, but fear; that we love one

another; that we have the mind of Christ; that we be dead to sin and alive to
righteousness; that is what Paul means by sanctification. Paul nowhere says
sinless, but he says free from sin. Let those cavil who will. He nowhere says
free from temptation, but "more than conquerors through Him that loved us."
It is true, Paul does not use the word eradication, nor does he use the word
suppression. But Paul leaves no room in the heart for sin. The sin principle
is destroyed according to Paul's theology, if language means anything. He
cries out to be delivered from the "body of this death." And it certainly does
not mean to be delivered to have it remain in the heart, no matter how well
it might be suppressed. There is no room at all for sin in Paul's thinking.
Christ fills the heart with the fullness of God. Let those who will engage in
a war of words, but let us go on to perfection, and this will we do, if God
permit. And God does permit. Let us obtain "salvation through the
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."
Let us now treat the subject from a more doctrinal standpoint. And first,
we will look at the different meanings Paul puts into the word sanctification.
First. "To be called out, or separated." He uses it in this way when he
addresses the Corinthian Church as "sanctified, called to be saints." In this
instance Paul thinks of it in the Jewish connection. "To set apart" (kadash),
meant, in the Old Testament, to sanctify. He uses it also in another sense in
which it means to abstain from fleshly lusts. "For this is the will of God, even
your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication." Paul is not speaking
here of that perfection of grace to which he calls the Church when he says,
"The God of peace sanctify you wholly." It still has the idea of separating
oneself from any unclean practice unbecoming the "called of God." "For He
hath not called you unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." "He hath chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth."

Paul always relates the teaching to the moral life. It is not an experience "of
the airy mind" with Paul. He has always in mind "the righteousness of God
in us." It is the perfecting of every man that leads him to his doctrine of
sanctification, He knows of no sanctification that does not relate itself
directly to the cleansing of the moral being. It is in order to "present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus." He cries out, "Dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the
fear of the Lord." But sanctification is more than this to Paul. There is a
strong, positive side to his teaching. It is not only cleansed from sin, but filled
with God that Paul sees in sanctification. It is not only "put off the old man,"
it is "put on the new man which is created after God in righteousness and true
holiness." It is put on, as the beloved of God, "bowels of mercies, kindness,
humbleness of mind, meekness, long-sufferingand above all these things,
put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness." He says, "Be filled with the
Spirit," and the fruits of the Spirit are these, "love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no
law."
Before entering upon a more doctrinal treatment, I wanted to say the things
I have said, because there is so much danger these days of forgetting that
sanctification is a life.
Before taking up the subject in its soteriological aspect, let me say the
doctrine of sanctification does not rest upon certain texts, but is the subject
of the Bible throughout.
First, I call attention to the Pauline usage of the term in its different
phases. First, in the sense of separation. This, as all will agree, is the original
meaning of the term, but to say that it does not mean more than this is to be
very insincere and untrue to the apostle. Most, if not all, the Old Testament

usages are to be understood in this sense of separation. It is so used in the

words of 2 Tim. 2:21: "He shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet
for the Master's use." "Say ye of him whom the Lord hath sanctified, and sent
into the world, Thou blasphemest, because I said I am the Son of God?" "I
sanctify myself." In Peter there is one reference, 1 Pet. 3:15. "Sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts." 1 Tim. 4:5, "For every creature is sanctified by God
and prayer."
But Paul uses it in a deeper sense than this. He uses it in the moral sense
or what some call partial sanctification. Updegraff says, "They were
sanctified by the blood of Jesus, as every justified person is, in the sense of
being washed from their sins, and separated from sinners." The words in 2
Thess. 4:3, 4, are used in this sense. Such people are in need of sanctification
in its partial sense before they are ready to have it in its full sense. It is the
will of God in both cases. Paul is not calling them to an entire sanctification
while they are in fornication. I know it is sometimes argued that the carnal
nature is showing itself in fornication, but it seems to me that the regenerate
man has control of the sins of the flesh, and is saved from fornication, if truly
regenerate. I believe it is better to understand this in the moral sense. It is
used in this sense in Heb. 9:13, "sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh."
There is one place in which it is used in a peculiar sense, 1 Cor. 7:14: "For
the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife
is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now they
are holy." Here Paul is speaking of the sanctifying of the marriage relation.
In the early Church a problem arose concerning the condition of the children
of a Christian wife and an un-Christian husband, and Paul says the Christian
wife sanctifies the un-Christian husband in the marriage relation. He means
nothing more than this.

But Paul uses the word sanctification in a larger sense than these meanings
I have just given. In 1 Thess. 5:23, he prays that "the very God of peace might
sanctify wholly." Here he is using the term in its fullest meaning, and by
sanctifying wholly Paul means that "perfect love which casteth out all fear."
The cleansing of the heart from all sin. He means "perfecting holiness in the
fear of God." I shall have something to say before closing concerning this
grace, but now wish to state what are the grounds of this experience.
First, God wills it. This is expressed in more than one text of Scripture.
God could not will less than this. All Scripture calls to holiness of heart.
"Follow peace with all men and holiness (or the sanctification, as the margin
reads) without which no man shall see the Lord." It is not necessary that we
should have the word "will" expressed, for it is seen in all the Word of God
that God is seeking a holy people for His peculiar possession. It is fully
expressed in the history of the Jews. In Sinai's thunderings and the messages
of the prophets. "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness as a
mighty stream." It would be a slander on God to say that God expected
anything less of His people, or, expecting holiness, it would be slander to say
that God could not make His people holy. To know that "God wills that I
should holy be" we may well say, "What can withstand His will?"
It is the plan or purpose of God that His people should be holy. "According
as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we
should be holy, and without blame before Him in love." It is His eternal plan,
and what He has planned surely He will perform. Surely there is a
misunderstanding somewhere when men say that we can not be holy. "God
hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." "God hath from the
beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and
belief of the truth."

Christ is the ground of our sanctification, for He "is made unto us wisdom,
and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." The blood of Christ
is the provisional ground of our sanctification. "Wherefore Jesus also, that He
might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate." If
the blood of Christ can not cleanse from all sin, then why not? I have heard
many deny the doctrine of sanctification, but I have never heard one give a
valid reason why the blood of Christ is not sufficient to cleanse the heart from
all sin. The atonement is really the middle ground of our sanctification. In it
is expressed the will and full purpose of God. It is through Jesus Christ that
God has "predestinated us unto the adoption of children." Surely John meant
this when he wrote, "The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin."
The perfect life of Christ is also a ground of our sanctification. "And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth." Truly we are "reconciled by His death," but we are also "saved by His
life." The fact that such a life has been lived is the promise of God that such
a life can be lived again. If not, what is the meaning of the Incarnation? Most
surely we do not mean to teach that in all respects we may be like Jesus
Christ. He stands unique as a Redeemer, but did He not say His disciples
were to be "perfect, as their Father in heaven is perfect"? Surely the doctrine
of holiness is not the teaching of misguided fanatics, but the very marrow of
the teachings of the Son of man.
Let us now turn to the conditions of our sanctification. The first is
justification. I know Paul uses this word some times with a very full meaning,
but no one will deny that Paul teaches a distinct work of grace subsequent to
justification, which he terms sanctification. He lays down a forensic
justification as the ground of all future religious states, but justification
precedes sanctification in Paul's theology. No candid thinker will make these
one and the same experience. I never take a man seriously who speaks of

"getting it all at once." I do not say that God could not justify and sanctify the
soul in one act, or so nearly at one time that it would seem one act; but I do
say that Paul teaches two distinct works of grace, and the consciousness of
the Church attests that fact. The early Church says, "Repent and be baptized
and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." You are to be justified in
order that you might be sanctified. It is easy to prove from the Scriptures that
forgiveness of sin, or justification, is not an end, but a means to an end. The
preaching of justification only is not the gospel. He who fails to preach the
whole counsel of God fails in the truest sense of the word to preach the
gospel at all. A justification that does not go on to the "sanctification through
the Spirit" fails to reach the end of the purpose of God, and soon ceases to be
a justification.
Another condition of our sanctification is the consciousness of the need of
a pure heart. It is impossible to take a step in the divine life without this
consciousness of need. "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink."
"He that hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled." It is only the
soul that feels the "war in my members" that cries out, "Who shall deliver me
from this body of death?" It is only the hungry that can be filled.
With the conviction of our need of a clean heart comes a new and larger
vision of God in relation to our life. With some there is a great struggle at this
point. It is not the same with all. Some people settle more questions at
conversion. Some have a larger vision at conversion than others. If the
conversion has been very radical, the struggle at sanctification will not be as
severe. But what God does demand at this time is a full and complete
surrender to the new vision of God. It is at this point that self must die. The
old man must surrender to the new, and the soul must put on "as the elect of
God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind,
meekness, longsuffering."

Faith in Christ is also a condition of our sanctification. It is "sanctification

through the Spirit and belief of the truth." Sanctification, as justification, is
by faith. Let us not make works the ground of our sanctification. There is
much danger of doing so. It is Christ who is made unto us sanctification.
Only faith can bring the blessing to the soul. "To him that believeth all things
are possible," even the cleansing of the heart from all sin.
We now turn to look at the agents of our sanctification. It is the great work
of the Triune God. Here, as in all the work of redemption, we find the Trinity
at work. Jude writes to them "that are sanctified by God the Father, and
preserved in Jesus Christ, and called." Paul writes, "The very God of peace
sanctify you wholly." Jesus prays that God might "sanctify them through Thy
truth." John says, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness." Again Paul writes to the Corinthians, "Now He
which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us is God."
Christ is more the ground of our sanctification than the agent. "He is made
unto us sanctification." In Hebrews we read, "Wherefore Jesus also, that He
might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate."
And again, in Hebrews 10:10, "By the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." There is one passage,
however, in which He is spoken of as the agent. "For both He that sanctifieth,
and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He is not ashamed
to call them brethren." Thus we see that Christ is more the ground than the
agent, or, as one writer states it, "The blood of Jesus is the procuring cause
of our sanctification; or, as we have seen, we are provisionally sanctified by
His blood." The Spirit is the "efficient cause," or the effective agent, of our
sanctification. Peter writes, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of
the blood of Jesus Christ." And Paul writes, "And such were some of you: but

ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the
Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." There is much misunderstanding
concerning this work of the Spirit. There are those who say that the baptism
of the Spirit is for service, and Mr. Torrey, who represents this class, says:
"The baptism of the Spirit is not for the purpose of cleansing from sin, but for
the purpose of empowering for service. . . . Not a line of Scripture can be
adduced to show that the baptism with the Spirit is the eradication of the
sinful nature." (See "Mission of the Holy Spirit," by Keithly.) I would like to
ask where there is a passage in Scripture where it states that the baptism of
the Spirit is for service? On the other hand, I have given three passages where
sanctification is spoken of as the work of the Spirit, and if there is any time
when that cleansing is most likely to take place, surely the time of the Spirit's
coming in His fullness is that time. And so the consciousness of the Church
speaks.
But there are some who try to make the cleansing a separate work prior to
the baptism. This leads to a dangerous error, and to very much confusion for
the uninitiated. We must think clearly on these great essentials, and keep
from the dogmatic and speculative spirit. The gospel is beautifully simple,
and I would that we depart not from the "simplicity of the gospel."
Truth is a secondary ground or agent of sanctification. "Sanctify them
through Thy truth: Thy word is truth." "Through sanctification and belief of
the truth." "That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water
by the word." "According as His divine power hath given unto us all things
that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath
called us to glory and virtue." As in justification, so in sanctification the
Word plays an important part. "It is sharper than any two-edged sword . . .
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." "My words," says
Jesus, "are spirit, and they are life." Paul speaks of the Church "being

sanctified and cleansed by the Word." "For it is sanctified by the Word of

God and prayer." Again he speaks of "the Word of God, which effectually
worketh also in you that believe." In another place he calls the Word of God
the "sword of the Spirit." It is mentioned as a factor in the work of
sanctification, in Hebrews 6, "and have tasted the good Word of God, and the
powers of the world to come." And one more passage will suffice to make
this clear. James says, "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to
save your souls."
What would salvation be for unless to remove that which has marred the
creation of God? It is not a question as to where such a man can be found. A
spiritual man must be spiritually discerned. A man holding such a theory
would never consent to the possibility.
I wish now to call attention to some of the subjective results of
sanctification.
The first to mention is the clean heart. The destruction of the carnal mind
through the coming of the Spirit. The Spirit "burns up the dross of base
desire," and destroys the principle of sin in the soul, and creates
"A heart in every thought renewed,
And full of love divine;
Perfect and right and pure and good,
A copy, Lord, of Thine."
The Spirit likewise quickens the intellect. The mind is renewed. Great
mental activity follows the cleansing of the heart. Dormant faculties are
awakened, and there is a burning desire for true knowledge. This is seen by

the many who turn to the schools after they have been filled with the Spirit.
Purity is power, and there is no greater preparation for the service of the
Master than a thoroughly cleansed soul.
There is also a clearer conception of truth. Spiritual things are spiritually
discerned, and certainly the more spiritual a man becomes the clearer must
be his conception of truth. Having received this anointing the soul is
possessed with the Spirit of truth, and the Spirit guides such a one into all
truth. "The Bible is a new book," is a statement that falls from the lips of
every sanctified soul. The Holy Spirit, the Author of the Sacred Word,
unlocks the truth, for it is given to the holy to know the mysteries of the
kingdom.
A true and devoted service follows the cleansing of the heart. You can rely
on the truly sanctified. They "are always abounding in the work of the Lord."
They are not spasmodic time-servers. They are servants of Christ, and not
servants of men. They do not fuss and seek the high seats in the synagogues.
They are not over-sensitive, nor do they love to have the pre-eminence over
the brethren. Their service is "reasonable service" rendered to God, because
they seek "to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
There is fullness of love in a clean heart. John Wesley defines
sanctification as the "loving God with all the heart," and there is no better
definition, for "love is the fulfilling of the law," and is the first and greatest
commandment. "And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is
shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." And
when is the experience obtainable? Now, by faith in Jesus Christ. If you are
a child of God, walking in all the light you have, you may obtain it now. It is
the great heritage of the saints.

A word should be said about the object sought in our sanctification. God
is glorified in His people being holy. Sin is a reproach to God. It dishonors
God for His people to be in sin. God is honored in the sight of the heathen
when He is sanctified in His people. When Paul had prayed for the saints to
"comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height," he says, "Unto Him be glory in the Church by Jesus Christ
throughout all ages, world without end." When Christ had finished revealing
the holiness of the Father, He said, "I have glorified Thee on the earth." We
glorify God when we live a holy life.
Another object of our sanctification is that the world may believe. Christ
prays that the disciples "might be sanctified through the truth," "that they may
also be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me." The
carnal mind can never please God, and the Church full of strife and division
can not convince the world of the love and power of the Christ. It is only the
truly sanctified life that brings honor to God, and convinces the world of the
power and goodness of God. I have noticed that when the Church is holy and
united in love, the power of God in convicting the world is upon the Church.
The glory of God is never on the unsanctified Church. It is only seen when
the Church is clean, every whit whole, and of one mind in Christ Jesus. "But
if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he
is convinced of all, he is judged of all; and thus are the secrets of his heart
made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and
report that God is in you of a truth."

The Witness of the Spirit.

"The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit,

that we are the children of God."

"The testimony of the Spirit is an inward impression on

the souls of believers, whereby the Spirit of God directly
testifies to their spirit, that they are children of God."
WESLEY.

THE WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

THERE is no more difficult subject to write upon than the one that is now
before us. The field of consciousness is a difficult one to explore. It is also
difficult to go outside one's own consciousness in the discussion of those
inner states of subjective religion. Consciousness differs in individuals.
Therefore there is much confusion among the people concerning the witness
of the Spirit to salvation. Some speak of it as an outward voice speaking to
the soul, or as an inward voice. Some Christians seem to get a much clearer
witness than others, and that leads earnest souls to doubt their acceptance
with God, because they have not had that vision at conversion that some
Christians claim to have had. The Bible does not speak of any such outward
voice nor of any vision as being necessary to the assurance that God has
accepted us in the "Beloved." Wesley says, "I do not mean hereby that the
Spirit of God testifies this (our adoption) by any outward voice; no, nor
always by an inward voice, although He may do this some times." The
witness of the Spirit being a question of consciousness, it can not be
theoretically formed into a "definable system." Like the birth of the Spirit,
"the wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear the sound thereof, but can not
tell when it cometh or whither it goeth."
That there is such a witness to salvation is well supported by the
Scriptures. Some have denied the direct witness, and speak only of an indirect
witness or the witness of a good conscience, or a witness by inference. It is
the most reasonable supposition that the Spirit having wrought so great a
work as regeneration should witness to that work to the full assurance of the
soul. But we must not look for that witness in any outward manifestation, but
look for it in our own spirit. "The Spirit Himself witnesseth with our spirit

that we are the sons of God." "Because we are sons, God hath sent forth the
Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Many people who
are troubled about the witness of the Spirit are so troubled because they are
looking for some strange phenomena to happen. They want to see some star,
or hear some audible voice speaking, as God spoke to Moses from the
burning bush. They want some ecstasy or strange light to witness to the fact
of their conversion. And because of these strange notions it is "needful," as
Wesley says, "to guard those who fear God from both these dangers, by a
Scriptural and rational illustration of confirmation of this momentous truth."
Before taking up the subject in detail, it would be well to say that in these
days of superficial conversion and cold formalism, when people are admitted
into the Church without any sign of a change of heart, that there is a need of
insisting that the soul seeking God hear from God, and that the soul wait
humbly in the presence of God until it has received the assurance of God's
pardoning favor. Without this witness in the Church, the Church soon
becomes a place of cold formalism, and a society of baptized worldlings. God
will not work so great a change as conversion or sanctification without giving
evidence that the work is done.
Let us first speak of the indirect witness, or the witness by inference. This
is an important part of the Spirit's witness, for there are times when the inner
consciousness is dimmed by the clouds of trial. There are times when the
direct witness of the Spirit is not bright, when the "accuser of the brethren"
is saying, "If you be the Son of God." Wesley says, "However, this fruit may
be clouded for awhile, during the time of strong temptation, so that it does
not appear to the tempted person, while Satan is sifting him as wheat; yet the
substantial part of it remains, even under the thickest cloud." It is true, joy in
the Holy Ghost may be withdrawn during the hour of trial; yea, the soul may
be "exceedingly sorrowful," while "the hour and power of darkness

continue;" but even this is generally restored with increase, till we rejoice
"with joy unspeakable and full of glory."
John, who leaned his head on the bosom of the Christ, and who must have
had a clear witness to his adoption into the family of God, deals much with
this witness by inference. Surely when we study these texts there should be
no difficulty in determining whether or not we are the children of God. He
says, "Hereby we know that we do know Him, if we keep His
commandments." And again, "Whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the
love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him." If we do not
love His Word, if we find our delight in worldly literature, and His Word
tiresome and irksome, there is evidence that we are not yet born into His
kingdom.
John puts another test of sonship in the soul's relationship to righteousness.
"If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth
righteousness is born of Him," and the similar passage, "Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin, so His seed remaineth in him and he can not sin
because he is born of God."
Again, he tests our adoption into the family of God by our relation to the
brethren. "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love
the brethren," and "hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure
our hearts before Him." "Hereby we know that we dwell in Him, because He
hath given us of His Spirit." And, "Hereby we know that He abideth in us by
the Spirit which He hath given us." There are other inferential tests, such as,
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him," and, "As
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Now a man
may be deceived as to an outward or an inward voice, as doubtless many are;
but here are some fruits of the Spirit which will be in any man's life who has

passed from death unto life, and without these evidences of the new birth the
outer or inner voice are of little worth. Outer voices and visions may deceive
us, but here are the infallible proofs of sonship, infallible because they are
Scriptural. These are God's tests of the new birth, and if in a Scriptural sense
these marks appear in your life, then you have reason to believe that you are
born of God's Spirit and ordained unto eternal life. This is what Wesley calls
the testimony of our spirit. It is the answer of our spirit to the Word of God.
These are what one might call the outer tests of sonship, or our spirit
testifying to the outer standards, but there are also the subjective tests of
sonship. "Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ." After the struggle there is peace. Guilt has gone, and
the soul now cries out,
"My God is reconciled,
His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child,
I can no longer fear."
And is not this peace that now fills your heart the voice of God speaking to
your heart and saying, "Fear not?" Is this not what Christ said to the woman
whose sins He had forgiven, "Go in peace?" Is not this peace "blessed
assurance" that God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you your sins? Could any
outward evidence add anything to this testimony of God that you are His
child? Then, there is a new joy comes into the heart at conversion, and this
is an evidence of the presence of the Spirit in your heart. "He that loves God,
that delights and rejoices in Him with an humble joy and holy delight and an
obedient love, is a child of God."
The consciousness of sins forgiven may be stronger in some than in others.
"The more deeply we are led by the Holy Spirit into the knowledge of

ourselves as sinners, of the unreality of the world, and of the reality of the
Divine, the more intense becomes the struggle and the more evident grows
the affinity between the work of the Holy Spirit in us and in that Holy
Scripture." Just as consciousness is deeper in some than in others, so the
subjective states of religion must differ in different people having different
states or degrees of consciousness. We can not expect every soul to have the
same consciousness of salvation as the Apostle Paul had. Indeed, I think there
are few who have, but all may know that we are the sons of God. We need
not expect the same spiritual phenomena to attend the conversion of a child
that would attend the conversion of a hardened sinner. The volitional type of
conversion like Lydia would pass over into the kingdom without the struggle
experienced by the jailer, but her assurance would be enough to satisfy her
that she had made the transition. People are troubled because they have not
the evidence other Christians claim to have. Their consciousness could never
satisfy your soul. If you had all the experience in every detail that some other
soul has had, it would not bring one particle of rest to your heart. The Spirit
must witness to your spirit, and the witness to your spirit will be according
to the measure of your consciousness.
I can not say with some that the moment the work is done you will be
conscious of the work. Sometimes the witness seems to be slow in coming.
It may take some time for it to come into full consciousness. After you have
made your surrender to Christ, wait patiently for Him. He knows what is
lacking. Do not try too hard to find the difficulty. The lepers were healed as
they went, and the assurance will come to you in God's good time. In the
meanwhile, exercise faith in God and step out upon His promises. I do not
believe anything is gained by struggling for the witness. Wesley says:
"Indeed, the witness of sanctification is not always clear at first (as neither is
that of justification); neither is it afterward always the same, but, like that of

justification, sometimes stronger, and sometimes fainter. Yea, and sometimes

it is withdrawn."
The witness of the Spirit grows brighter and brighter as the soul grows in
the image of the Son. As we get nearer to God the assurance of our sonship
grows brighter. "The 'enlightening' increases gradually in intensity, and in
proportion as it grows stronger we see more, and see with more certainty, and
stand the more firmly." With some the witness of the Spirit is very "incisive
in character," and with others it grows into a brightness that brings a full
assurance. Religious biography is full of these two types. The trouble with
many people is that they are looking for the evidence of their acceptance with
God outside of themselves in some ecstasy or enthusiasm, and thus faith is
hindered because the soul has taken its eyes off the Christ. We are to look for
the witness in our hearts, "crying, Abba, Father." I find many people who are
looking for some strange light as the evidence of their acceptance with God.
Sometimes the witness is withdrawn and the soul must be content to rest
in the promises of God. I think it was so when Christ was on the cross, and
He cried out, "My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" "The Just shall live by
faith," and after we have received the assurance that God has accepted us, we
must trust God and not our consciousness. It is not the witness of the Spirit
that saves us. It is faith in Christ. Let us walk with God during these seasons
of trial and the witness will be brighter than ever. If we walk humbly with
God there will never be wanting, even in the darkest hours of trial, that
consciousness that we are the sons of God. This will express itself in
language similar to Job's, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him."
I like John Wesley's definition of the witness of the Spirit: "By the
testimony of the Spirit, I mean an inward impression on the soul whereby the
Spirit of God immediately and directly witnesses to my spirit that I am a child

of God; that Jesus hath loved me, and given Himself for me; that all my sins
are blotted out and I, even I, am reconciled to God."

The Spirit In Temptation.

"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned

from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the
wilderness, being forty days tempted of the devil."

"We must pass on unmoved, while temptations rage

around us, as the traveler, overtaken by the storm, simply
wraps his cloak more closely about him and pushes on
more vigorously towards his destined home." FENELON.

THE SPIRIT IN TEMPTATION.

THE Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, carried Him through the trying
ordeal, and brought Him out more than Conqueror. A tempted and tried
Christ "is able to succor them that are tempted." "For we have not an high
priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was
in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." So Paul calls us to
"consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself,
lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." "We must never be astonished at
temptations, be they never so outrageous. On this earth all is temptation.
Crosses tempt us by irritating our pride, and prosperity by flattering it. Our
life is a continual combat, but one in which Jesus Christ fights for us. We
must pass on unmoved while temptations rage around us as the traveler,
overtaken by the storm, simply wraps his cloak more closely about him and
pushes on more vigorously towards his destined home." Temptation is the
common lot of mankind, and especially of the saints, so we are exhorted by
Peter to "think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as
though some strange thing happened unto you: But rejoice, inasmuch as ye
are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye
may be glad also with exceeding joy." The Scriptures state repeatedly that
temptations are common to mankind. "There hath no temptation taken you
but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make
a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." It is sometimes charged, by
misinformed people, that teachers of holiness do not believe that the
sanctified are ever tempted. This is erroneous. But it is true that some do not
understand the nature of temptation and are apt to misjudge one who is
passing under the cloud. All great saints have been subject to severe

temptations, lasting sometimes for weeks and months, and those who have
been foremost in the conflict have felt the sharpest thrusts of the enemy's
sword. "He is the accuser of the brethren." Peter says, "Your adversary, the
devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." The
ink-spot on the wall of Luther's study is still pointed out to travelers, recalling
the incident when he, severely tempted, threw the ink-bottle at the devil.
Luther must have passed through some terrible conflicts during those trying
days of the Reformation. Paul records, "There was given to me a thorn in my
flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above
measure," and elsewhere speaks of his trials and temptations, saying, "Even
unto this present hour we both hunger and thirst and are naked, and are
buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place." "We are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair." We could cite
many more passages and relate many more instances to show that the most
saintly people have been subject to sharp and bitter conflicts with the prince
of the power of the air.
But how can the holy be tempted? This question is often asked by earnest
and sincere people. They do not understand why the holy should be tempted.
They think that when the soul is cleansed from sin that temptation should
cease. They do not see what there is in the holy to be tempted. The mistake
such people make is in thinking that sin is the ground of temptation. Sin
weakens the will and makes the soul weak and very susceptible to temptation,
but sin is never the real ground. Sinless angels fell from their steadfastness;
Adam was tempted, being a holy man, and Christ the sin-less was tempted in
the wilderness and on many another occasion, for the tempter left Him "only
for a season." Man's free moral agency is the real ground of temptation. When
God made man He made him free to choose between right and wrong. This
freedom is the ground upon which the enemy appeals. Sin is not essential to
holy character, as some have falsely taught, but temptation is essential to

make a man personally holy. Man is not a personally holy man until he has
gathered up his full personality and with full consent has decided to be holy
over against the other possibility to be unholy. Temptation, then, is necessary
to bring out that choice; hence God said to Adam, "Thou shalt not eat of the
tree." With such a command man is brought to exercise his power of choice,
and choosing to obey God, he puts personal content into his character and
becomes a holy man. If he chooses against God he becomes a responsible
sinner. Adam had power to choose righteousness, and hence God is not
responsible for his fall. Therefore, temptation is not sin and sin is not the
ground of temptation, and the holy can be tempted. Moreover, the holy are
more subject to severe temptation because they have asserted their personal
choice on the side of God, and that makes them especially the objects of hate
to the enemy, whose work it is to pervert the right ways of the Lord in the
soul of man and get man to worship him and not God. Surely the godly are
tempted, for "the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations,
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." Holiness
does not destroy the power of free choice in the soul, but sets it free to
choose, and hence a man is never free from temptation, for he always has the
right to say whom he will serve, whether God or Baal. In the temptation of
the wilderness Christ has made this personal choice over against Satan's
effort to turn Him from the divine plan of suffering and the cross. It is the
testimony of not a few worthy saints that after the baptism of the Spirit they
endured sharp temptations. And so it is written of saints of old time, for they
are exhorted "to call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were
illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were
made a gazingstock, both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye
became companions of them that were so used."
Let us now turn to some of the grounds for seasons of temptation in the
Christian life.

Some struggles may be due to the unyielded heart. The eye must be single
if the whole body is to be full of light. He that walketh in any degree of
disobedience must walk in partial darkness. It is only the pure in heart that
can see God.
"Walk in the light and thou shalt know,
Thy heart make truly His."
We are commanded by Paul "to lay aside every weight, and the sin which
doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race set before us."
Sometimes soul-darkness is due to disobedience and a lack of consecration
to the known will of God. "He that doeth the will shall know of the doctrine."
Then again, many of our temptations have a physical and mental basis.
Darkness and perplexity are the result of disease. People afflicted with
nervous prostration are frequently the victims of "agonizing darkness" and
fearful temptations. Morbid-mindedness, the result sometimes of radical and
false preaching, is often the result of a nervous breakdown. Insomnia,
neurasthenia, melancholia, and such neuropathic diseases are the cause of
much religious darkness. A neuropathic person is very likely to think he has
committed the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. They
consider themselves extremely wicked people and are subject to wild and
extravagant religious ideas. Cowper, the hymn-writer, was subject to such
seasons of melancholy, and on one occasion felt that God had called on him
to commit suicide, so he ordered his driver to drive him to a certain lake, but,
it being foggy, he lost his way and returned home. Cowper looked upon this
as providential, and wrote his providential hymn, "God moves in a
mysterious way His wonders to perform." Surely "God knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptation." Some Christian workers are not always
as wise. You must find out what is the cause of your darkness, it may be

overwork and overtaxed nervous system. Then, what you need is not
vociferous praying, not harsh and severe judgment, but rest and recuperation
in God's sunshine. If this is the cause of your darkness and temptation, sleep
and rest will remove it. Elijah fell into such despondency and fled into the
wilderness. The prophet had been passing through stirring events. It takes
strength for such struggles as he had been going through. It takes great
physical endurance to call fire down from heaven; it takes great energy to
open the heavens, and then to climb to the top of Carmel and run before
Ahab's chariot "to the entrance of Jezreel" is enough to weaken a stronger
man than Elijah. He is despondent and pessimistic. He is cowardlyso
unlike Elijah. He is physically exhausted, for the angel found him asleep and
"touched him and said unto him, 'Arise and eat.' Surely God knoweth how to
deliver the godly out of temptation." The angel did not call his weakness
carnality, nor did he rebuke him for his weakness. The Master did not send
scathing invectives and words of condemnation to the despondent John the
Baptist, who was languishing in Macherus, the Roman fortress, inactive, halfstarved, with vermin for companions, and a solitude that settles like night
about his soul. Christ sends him encouraging words. Christ did not rebuke the
sleeping disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane, but said "the spirit is willing
but the flesh is weak." God's way of encouraging tempted saints is to
encourage them to steadfastness. Let that be our method. Too often we turn
Job's comforters and help to make the temptation more severe and hard to
endure, and many a saint has fallen because the unkind word has been spoken
when they were bearing all they could bear.
Another source of temptation is in the perplexing problems of life. It is
hard to find our theodicy at times. We are perplexed with God's dealings with
us. We can not see the reason why some things should be as they are. The
abounding wickedness, the triumph of sin, the ill success of our efforts to
make things better, the inconsistencies of those who profess Christianity, the

strange treatment of our friends, and the many misfortunes which come at
times into the life of the saint form a basis for severe temptations. In such
times, as Faber says,
"Doubts will come if God hath kept
His promises to men."
Satan would like to get our eye on the abnormal things of life, and make us
believe that God is unfaithful and does not care. How many have given up
their confidence in such a testing time as this and have fallen away, never to
renew their covenant with God, "whose end is to be burned!" Let us
remember in such times that "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and
labor of love, which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have
ministered to the saints and do minister."
"Blind unbelief is sure to err,
And scan his work in vain;
God is His own interpreter:
And He will make it plain."
Another source of temptation lies in work for the Master. "Lord, what wilt
Thou have me to do?" is not always an easy question to answer. Some have
very definite calls, and they are not much troubled along this line, but some
are not so clear, and it becomes a great trial to the soul. Then again, Satan is
very anxious to turn the chosen servant of God from his chosen work. He
pictures all sorts of difficulties. He turns many a molehill into a mountain. It
is well to remember at such times His promise, "I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way thou shalt go: I will guide thee with Mine eye." At such times
let us offer this prayer, "Teach me Thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain
path, because of mine enemies." Such temptations are especially in the life

of the young Christian. After being converted, I felt the call to the ministry
and made it known to my pastor, but he rather discouraged me from entering
the ministry with the remark that my education was insufficient and that I had
better remain a useful layman. But the call remained and the difficulties
increased. I passed into great darkness and for several weeks I was severely
tempted; the bitterness of those hours remain in the memory to this day.
Every way seemed hedged up. I was uneducated, and had a mother to support.
I found consolation and strength in the words of Isaiah: "I will bring the blind
by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not
known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight.
These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them." In many a
subsequent struggle I have found comfort in these words.
I must pass on now to give some suggestions as to how we may meet
temptation. And first let me say, all temptation must be met with the Word
of God. This is how Christ met His temptations on all occasions. In the
wilderness He meets the threefold temptation with the words, "It is written."
He appeals to the Word as an explanation of all His conduct. Caroline Fry
says: "I recollect no instance in which Christ appeals to the secret purposes
of God as an explanation of His conduct . . . but to explain and justify His
words and actions, 'It is written' is the only argument I find Him to have ever
used." When the Jews questioned His authority for driving out the moneychangers, He does not give as His authority, "I am the Son of God," but, "It
is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer." Among the armor
Paul urges the Christian to put on we find the "Sword of the Spirit which is
the Word of God." The Word of God is never sweeter to the Christian than
when he is in the conflict. In hours of darkness it is indeed a "light unto his
path and a lamp unto his feet." In the hour of doubt when the disciples were
on their way to Emmaus, He did not reveal His true character to them, but
"He opened their eyes that they might understand the Scriptures." There is no

weapon like the Word of God to defeat the enemy. The Word of God "is
spirit and life." Therefore, "let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly unto all
wisdom," for in hours of temptation thou shalt be able to withstand the
enemy. Fenelon says: "I know of but two resources against temptations. One
is faithfully to follow the interior light in sternly and immediately cutting off
everything we are at liberty to dismiss and which may excite or strengthen the
temptation." As the apostle says, "Lay aside every weight." The other
resource Fenelon mentions is, "Turning towards God in every temptation,
without being disturbed or anxious to know if we have not already yielded a
sort of half consent, and without interrupting our immediate recourse to
God." This is what the Scriptures say should be the attitude of the soul during
the hour of temptation. The Word of God says, "Be sober, be vigilant." Jesus
says to the Church at Philadelphia, "Because thou hast kept the word of My
patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation." Paul says, when
speaking of the hour of our chastening, "Follow peace with all men, and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." In the hour of temptation
keep calm in thy soul. It is such a good passage, that I can not refrain from
quoting again from Fenelon: "If there is anything that can render the soul
calm, dissipate its scruples and dispel its fears, sweeten its sufferings by the
anointing of love, impart strength to it in all its actions, and spread abroad the
joy of the Holy Spirit in its countenance and words, it is this simple and
childlike repose in the arms of God." In the hour of temptation let us "Be still
and see the salvation of our God." "For our God is able to deliver us from the
fiery furnace."
Another resource in temptation is to resist the devil. "Resist the devil and
he will flee from you." Now, by resisting, the Bible means to determine that
you are going to do the will of God at any cost. You are going "to pass on
unmoved, while temptations rage around us." We are going to trust God
where we can not trace Him, and in the language of the Hebrew children we

say, "Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery
furnace, but if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy
gods." Let us, too, say in the hour of our testing, "If it never gets light again;
if I never have another sensible delight in God's service; if darkness should
deepen and deepen into blackest midnight, and the furnace is 'seven times
heated,' 'though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.'" So in the hour of
temptation let us "resist steadfast in the faith."
Finally, let us remember to "come boldly to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Prayer is "the
trustiest weapon," and we shall come forth strong in the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ from the secret closet of prayer.
We have now to consider the results of temptation in a twofold aspect.
First, in those who fail in the test. There are many who go down beneath
the assaults of the enemy. The great number of "reclaimed" reported in
revival statistics prove this. Many "fall away," and in the last days "many
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seditious heresies and doctrine, of
devils." To yield to temptation weakens the will and unnerves the soul. After
such a defeat the soul loses confidence, and is easily defeated at the next
onslaught. But the soul that wins finds out that
"Each victory will help him
Some other to win."
The soul is strengthened by its temptations and comes forth from the
victorious conflict strong to do exploits; strong in confidence of God's power
to keep the soul. When Christ left the wilderness after the temptation, Luke
says, He "returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out

a fame of Him through all the region round about." We grow strong through
our temptations and are able to say to the returning tempter, "Get behind me,
Satan." When Jesus came out of the garden, having said, "Thy will be done"
under the shadow of the cruel cross (for it is one thing to say, "Thy will be
done" to prospective death that is as yet some time distant, and quite another
thing to say, "Thy will be done" when death is imminent), He came forth in
the majesty of a Spirit who had won the great victory and is now Master of
His foes. It is the word of a conquering soul that strikes fear to the advancing
mob and makes the traitor tremble in his guilt.
Peter says, "Rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings;
that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy." Not only greater strength is imparted to the victorious soul, but greater
glory also, and greater joy. "But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto
His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make
you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you." Paul says, "I am filled with
comfort, I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation." The Spirit imparts joy
in the hour of temptation. We can be "sorrowful yet always rejoicing."
Another result of temptation is greater humility imparted to the soul. We
must remember that when we overcome the enemy it is by the grace of God.
"Let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall." Let us not
underestimate the power of the foe, but let us remember that "He that is in
you is greater than he that is in the world." Paul was given a "thorn in his
side, a messenger of Satan, to buffet him lest he should be exalted above
measure." Some people foolishly teach that sin will keep us humble. The very
essence of sin is pride, and how pride can keep the soul humble is hard to
understand; but temptation does keep the soul humble, for in the hour of
temptation we cry out, "Who is weak and I am not weak." In temptation we
find out our weakness and God's strength, so that in the hour of suffering we

magnify the "abundant grace" and cry out with Paul, "Our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the
things which are not seen are eternal," and so we are sure that "our tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Much more might be said if space
would permit, but we must close by saying, "Blessed is the man that endureth
temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the
Lord hath promised to them that love Him."

The Spirit and Spiritual Progress.

"But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
"No physician of souls, in like manner, has any
prescription for spiritual growth. It is the question he is
most often asked and most often answers wrongly. He may
prescribe more earnestness, more prayer, more self-denial,
or more Christian work. These are prescriptions for
something, but not for growth. Not that they may not
encourage growth; but the soul grows as the lily grows,
without trying, without fretting, without ever thinking . . .
earnest souls who are attempting sanctification by struggle
instead of sanctification by faith might be spared much
humiliation by learning the botany of the Sermon on the
Mount. There can indeed be no other principle of growth
than this. It is a vital act. And to try and make a thing grow
is as absurd as to help the tide to come in or the sun to
rise." DRUMMOND.

THE SPIRIT AND SPIRITUAL PROGRESS.

"BUT we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord."
"Growth is the universal law of all life." Where there is life there will be
growth. A full Christian character is not reached in a single crisis nor by one
single act of faith. There is much beyond the grace of entire sanctification.
The Bible is full of exhortation to those who are made perfect in love to
"grow in grace and the knowledge of the truth." Christian character, soul
maturity, is not reached by spasmodic efforts, but by daily obedience to the
laws of spiritual life. "Physical growth is often great; intellectual growth is
still greater; but neither are equal to the possible development of man's
spiritual nature. God has given laws to each and adjusted principles of growth
to them, and each has a living, progressive power. Our spiritual being may
progress more and still more through all future ages. God dwelleth in us, His
love perfected in us; and still our love may abound yet more and more." (J.A.
Wood.)
Peter writes: "Having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust. And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to
virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience;
and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to
brotherly kindness charity." Paul prays: "That Christ may dwell in your hearts
by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to
comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye

might be filled with all the fullness of God." Again, Paul writes that "He gave
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ." Jude exhorts, "But ye, beloved, building up
yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life." To the Philippians Paul writes, "Being confident of this
very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ: and this I pray, that your love may abound more and
more in knowledge and in all judgment." And to "as many as be perfect," he
says, "if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto
you."
"The very existence of Christian life depends upon its progress," for when
a thing ceases to grow it begins to decay and die. We can not stand still in the
Christian life. We must "press toward the mark," or else we shall miss the
mark and fall and die by the wayside. There is a quotation from Professor
Bartlet, of Mansfield College, Oxford, in Dr. Curtis's "Christian Faith" which
I want to make here, as it so beautifully sets forth the whole matter. Writing
of Saint Paul's teaching, he says: "There is a state possible to Christians,
corresponding to the ideal of their calling, in which they can be described as
'unblamable in holiness,' and into which they may be brought by the grace of
God in this life. Therein they stand hallowed through and through every part
of their being, abiding by grace in a condition fit to bear the scrutiny of their
Lord's presence without rebuke. Such is the teaching of 1 Thess. 3:13 and
5:23. The fidelity of God to His purpose in calling men to be Christians is
pledged to this achievement though there is no definite time, as measured
from the initial hollowing of the Spirit in conversion, at which it must needs

be accomplished. God, who begins the good work in the soul, also continues
to work at its perfecting right up to the day of Jesus Christ; and yet, ere that
day dawns, Christians may become already 'pure in purpose' and 'void of
offense,' and so remain 'until the day of Christ.' It is this state of realized
sanctification of conduct, or 'walk' so as to 'please God.' that St. Paul has
constantly in view in exhorting his converts to holy living. But the conception
needs to be carefully guarded and explained by other aspects of his thought.
Thus (1) it represents a growth in holiness rather than into holiness out of
something else; (2) it is conceived as realizable by a definite act of
faithclaiming and appropriating its rightful experience by an act of will
informed by the living energy of the Holy Spiritrather than as the
cumulative result of a slow, instinctive process after conversion; (3) it is not
the same as absolute moral perfection or consummation, but is rather the
prerequisite to its more rapid and steady realization."
We want to keep clear that we are talking about maturity and not purity.
The soul is made pure by an act of faith, but is matured by experience and by
the work of the Holy Spirit according to the laws of growth. "Christian purity,
a present privilege and duty, is very different from maturity, which is very
largely a subsequent attainment, subject to the laws of growth, involving time
and an advanced religious life."
Before we can expect to grow in grace we must be free from prejudice.
The mind can not expand while it is chained by a narrow bigotry and bound
by false conceptions of religion. Peter would have soon fallen back into a
narrow Judaizing view of Christianity if his mind had not been expanded by
the vision which called him to the larger view of the Christian faith. We are
stunted in our growth by our sectarian spirit, and many Christians show that
they have "arrested development" by a too narrow view of the love of God.
The Spirit is never the author of our sectarianisms. We must "think and let

think and love all men" if we are going to grow in knowledge and know what
is the will of God concerning mankind. Many a Christian has failed to grow
in grace because he has failed to see good in other men's religion. We must
open the petals of our soul to catch all the dews of God's mercy and all the
showers of His love for mankind. Like Peter, we are afraid to give up old
forms and leap forth into the new day and larger dispensation of God because
we cling so tenaciously to the past, and the soul can not expand until we are
ready to follow the Spirit into new life and greater liberty. "High-minded and
good men cling to these as if they were the only things by which God could
regenerate the world." We can not grow in grace so long as we are bound by
the "form of godliness" and do not seek the power of the Spirit. How many
there are who can not take the next step with the Spirit because they can not
leave the sect with which they are bound! If the soul is to grow we must weed
out the hindrances and break up the fallow ground. Spirituality can not grow
in soil that is reeking with the worldly spirit. The soul must be "planted by the
rivers of water" if it is to bring "forth his fruit in his season." The soul must
"lie down in green pastures" and be led "beside the still waters" if the soul is
to be restored. The soul must abide in the Vine if it is to bear fruit. "Abide in
Me, and I in you. As the branch can not bear fruit of itself except it abide in
the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in Me." For "He that abideth in Me,
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do
nothing."
If we expect to grow in grace we must seek congenial atmosphere. The
soul is an exotic plant. The world is not its congenial atmosphere. The
spiritual life is not indigenous to the worldly life. I do not mean that it is
necessary to go out of the world in order to be spiritual and grow in grace, but
I do mean that the soul can not grow unless it seeks spiritual companionships.
It must be where the dews from heaven can fall upon it and refresh it. It must
be where the "former and latter rains" fall and "the times of refreshing come

from the presence of the Lord." For only such as "are planted in the house of
the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God." We can not habitually
neglect the means of grace and the fellowship of the saints and expect to
grow in grace. We must not "forsake the assembling of ourselves together as
the manner of some is" if we expect to grow in the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, for it is "where two or three are gathered together in My name" that
Christ is in the "midst, and that to bless." What a blessing Thomas missed
when he failed to be in the Upper Room when Christ "stretched forth His
hands and blessed them!" I do not mean that we are always to be in a
meeting. Soul-growth needs the quiet retirement. The soul must be alone with
God at times. There must be meditation and contemplation if the soul is to
grow in the likeness of Him who communed with His Father in secret. We
must not forget His command to "enter into thy closet, and when thou hast
shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." How much the Church has lost by
the neglect of secret prayer! The soul can not grow into His likeness without
it. It is in these private devotions that the "soul rises slowly above the world,
pushing up its delicate virtues in the teeth of sin, shaping itself mysteriously
into the image of Christ." It is during such seasons, when the heart is still
before God, that the soul is "changed into the same image from glory to glory,
even as by the Spirit of the Lord." For the soul born from above must get its
growth from above, and being born of the Spirit we must grow by the Spirit.
This leads us to speak about the value of self-examination. Too much
introspection is dangerous to the soul's growth. We must not be forever
looking into our hearts to find sin. Too much self-examination leads to
darkness and unbelief and morbidmindedness and despair. If we take our eyes
off Christ for too long a time we fail into the snare of trusting our own weak
hearts. We must not be digging at the roots of the plant to see if it is growing.
It must be allowed to take root. But a careful self-examination is a good thing

to keep the soul from missing the mark of a holy life. The merchant would
not prosper, however, if he spends all his time taking invoice of his stock.
The Spirit is watching over the life of the soul and He is faithful to rebuke,
and when the soul is departing from the narrow way we shall hear a voice
"behind us saying, 'This is the way, walk thou in it.'"
Soul growth, like plant growth, is "spontaneous and mysterious." Hence
we are told by Christ to "take no thought," but to "consider the lilies how they
grow, they toil not neither do they spin." We must put out all fret and care
about our spiritual life. We make no headway by our struggles. We hinder
God's work by our fretting and worrying about our spiritual life. We do not
struggle into holiness any more than we grow into it. If we are truly growing
we are not conscious that we are growing. The lilies grow "automatically,
spontaneously, without trying, without fretting, without thinking." And so do
our souls. If fretting and worrying wears out the brain, certainly it destroys
the tender life of the soul. Many people seem to think that we are saved by
faith and grow by our works and our worries. That we are saved by faith and
grow in grace by our unbelief and restlessness about our soul's condition. The
soul need not be uprooted in order to take on new and greater life in Christ.
We can not grow until we are "rooted and grounded in Him." Then why
should we be forever denying the work He has done when the Spirit is calling
us to a "closer walk with God?' Why can not we grow without denying our
rooting? And how can we go from "image to image" if we are forever
destroying by our unbelief the first image He stamped upon our souls? Let us
not forget that "He is the Author and Finisher of our faith," and that all who
are in Christ Jesus "go from strength to strength," and that "the path of the
just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
But the soul can not grow without suffering. There is pain in growth, and
the Christian will not grow into the likeness of the "Man of Sorrows" without

some soul anguish. "Every branch that beareth fruit He purgeth it, that it may
bring forth more fruit." We have not realized this when we have asked to be
made more like Him. We have forgotten that He, too, "learned obedience by
the things which He suffered." Therefore, "My son, despise not thou the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: for whom the
Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." But
let us remember also that, "No chastening for the present seemeth joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby." Let us be still in the
Master's hand at such times. "The marble wastes as the image grows," and
"our outward man perishes, but the inward man is renewed day by day."
Surely we, too, may "glory in tribulation also: knowing that tribulation
worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope
maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." And after you have "suffered
awhile," the "God of all grace" will "make you perfect, stablish, strengthen,
settle you."
Let us not try to grow; let us just simply grow by taking heed to the
conditions of soul growth and receiving from the Father's beneficent hand the
"bread from heaven." Let us daily drink of that "spiritual rock, and that rock
was Christ." "If the amount of energy lost in trying to grow were spent in
fulfilling rather the conditions of growth, we should have many more cubits
to show for our stature." Christ said, "Ye can not add one cubit to your
stature;" then, why should we try? It is God that "giveth the increase" and that
"worketh in us mightily to will and to do of His good pleasure."
We must not be continually finding fault with ourselves and condemning
ourselves. What good will this do us? When we discover our faults, let us
thank God and take courage, and let us ask Him to purge us that we may

bring forth more fruit. Let us trust Him to make us perfect. "He giveth more
grace to the humble." Let us trust Christ, for is it not His purpose to present
us faultless before the presence of His glory leaping with joy." "Forgetting the
things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are
before" let us "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in
Christ Jesus."
Let us not struggle to be good. "True, a man will often have to wrestle with
his Godbut not for growth." We must not be preoccupied with our own
soul conditions. Some one has well said, "We are never sanctified until we
are done with ourselves." Let us be done with ourselves. In the darkest hours
of our life let us trust our souls to the faithful Spirit of God. "The energies
which are to be spent on the work of Christ are consumed in the soul's own
fever, so long as the Church's activities are spent on growing there is nothing
to spare for the world." There are many people who are sick because they are
forever doctoring themselves. They would be better if they would cease
taking drugs and give nature a chance. So there are many Christians who are
always worrying about their spiritual condition and are forever going to
people to find out what is wrong with them, and they never honor the Spirit
and trust Him to take them "from image to image and from glory to glory."
Just now, troubled soul, put your case in His hands. Abandon yourself to Him
and have faith in Him. You will reach your full stature in Christ, not by
trying, not by working, but by believing, for ye are "chosen to salvation
through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth." You can not "grow
up into Him who is the Head of the Church" until you rest in Him. Let us
seek to "be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the
law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is
of God by faith."

But the earnest soul who is seeking to be more like Christ will ask, "How
am I to know that I am more like Christ?" Or will say, "I do not feel that I am
more like Christ." And if you did feel that you were more like Christ it would
be evident that you are not more like Him. For a spirituality that feels
spiritual is not spiritual any more than a humility that feels humble is humble.
To feel that we are getting holy is to feel with the Pharisee that we are
thankful that "we are not as other men are" or to feel that "I am holier than
thou." This would be far from the true spirit of the Master, who said, "Learn
of Me for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest to your soul."
The holy do not feel holy, but on the contrary, feel that they are the weakest
of the weak and with Paul can say at all times, "Who is weak and I am not
weak." When you are strong you will feel weak, and when you are humble
you will feel your pride. It is because we are becoming more like Him that we
feel our imperfections and shortcomings. Fenelon, in his "Spiritual Progress,"
says: "God works in a mysterious way in grace as well as in nature,
concealing His operations under an imperceptible succession of events, and
thus keeps us always in the darkness of faith. He not only accomplishes His
designs gradually, but by means that seem the most simple and the most
competent to the end, in order that human wisdom may attribute the success
to the means, and thus His own working be less manifest; otherwise every act
of God would seem to be a miracle, and the state of faith, wherein it is the
will of God that we should live, would come to an end." We never get rid of
a fault by weeping over it. We are more apt to get rid of it by turning away
from it and looking to Christ for help to overcome it. Brother Lawrence, the
pious monk, used to say, when he had fallen into some fault, "Lord, I should
do that all the time if it were not for Thy grace." And all devotional writers
tell us that the only way to get rid of our faults, as with our sin, is to look to
Christ by faith, and ask Him to help us put it out of our life.

Remember it is written, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He shall appear we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

Being Led by the Spirit.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."

The Spirit will never lead us contrary to the plain duties of life,

BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT.

THE sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. If we would exercise more
care to become the sons of God we should have less trouble about being led
by His Spirit. Christ makes positive statements about His sheep. He says, "I
am known of Mine." "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they
follow Me." The great essential to being led of the Spirit is to be filled with
the Spirit. We shall have no great difficulty in knowing the voice of the Spirit
when we have the spiritual nature implanted. Truly there are many voices in
the world and many false prophets are gone forth to deceive the very elect if
it were possible, and there are many Antichrists in the world who are
saying,"Lo! here and lo! there," but God's true children go not after them.
These are especially days of wild and alarming fanaticisms and dangerous
doctrines, but the wicked one shall not pluck the true people of God out of
His hand. "We have an unction from the Holy One and know all things."
The true son of God is not to be carried away by these false doctrines of
devils, but he is to be led by the Spirit of God. Many who claim to have been
the sons of God have been led away by pernicious errors, but how many of
these were the sons of God? How many of them had been truly born of God?
That men can become apostates after having "tasted of the heavenly gift, and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted of the good word of
God and the powers of the world to come," is clearly taught in the Scriptures,
but many who run after new doctrines were never in any sense the true
children of God. What is a true son of God? One certainly who has been born
of the Spirit, "which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God." A man must be born of the Spirit before he
can be led of the Spirit. There is no wonder that many are departing from the

"old Gospel" when you think of how few there are who have in these last
days been saved by the power of God. Then a true child of God will seek and
obtain a pure heart, and then he shall see God. With a clear insight into things
of God one is not easily led about by every wind and doctrine. It is essential
also that we have a single eye to God's glory, if we are going to be led of the
Spirit. And we must be well acquainted with the Word of God. "My people
do err, not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God." How many there are
who have been led astray by the "cunning craftiness of men who lie in wait
to deceive" because they have not the "Word of Christ dwelling in them
richly!" Then many are led astray because they seek after the spectacular in
religion, and are not satisfied with the simplicity of the gospel. They turn to
another gospel which is not another because they want excitement, and they
have forgotten that the "kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but is
righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
It is not safe to follow all impressions. There are many spirits in the world.
There is the evil Spirit always suggesting to the soul. There is the spirit of the
world and our own human spirit, and these may combine at times to mislead
us; but we have a faithful guide if we will only look to Him and trust Him.
There are some simple rules which will help to keep us from going astray.
The Spirit will never lead contrary to the general sense of Scripture. I say
general sense because most errors are built up on a false interpretation of
single texts. There is no more dangerous way of studying the Scriptures than
to take isolated texts and interpret them independently of the general sense
of Scripture. All fanaticisms claim the Scripture for their foundation. We
must compare Scripture with Scripture: passages that seem strictly Calvinistic
with Scripture that seems strictly Arminian. We must "rightly divide the word
of truth." Then we should not be in a hurry to form conclusions, but wait for

the Spirit to make clear the sense of the Scripture. Difficult passages should
be left until more light is obtained and a wider knowledge of the book is
gained by a larger study. There is a general sense of Scripture that a Spiritfilled man feels. A standard of action which he feels is Scriptural
notwithstanding passages that seem to read to the contrary. The Spirit will not
lead to wild and extravagant actions, for it teaches to "be sober, grave,
temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience," and that "the women be in
behavior as becometh holiness." The Spirit-filled life is the truly normal life.
It is a life poised in the center of God's will. It is not a life of wild
extravagances, but a life hid within the quiet recesses of the heart of God,
"under the shadow of the Almighty wing." It is a life of sound-mindedness.
In the second place, the Spirit will never lead us to do things contrary to
the moral law. Love is the fulfilling of the law and not the breaking of it.
Many are led off into Freeloveism and other sad immoralities because they
do not try the Spirits to see if they are of God or not. The Spirit will make a
man pure and clean in the deepest recesses of his mind. The Spirit creates
within man a clean heart, and the suggestion that a man can depart from the
moral law is a suggestion from a corrupt heart. The Spirit "packs a man's life
full of moral content." The Spirit never leads a man or woman into strange
relations with the opposite sex. We are to shun the very appearance of evil.
What fearful wrecks of faith men have made in departing from the moral law!
There is a subtle Antinomianism that teaches that a man may depart from the
moral law and still be a Christian. This is utterly false and pernicious. "Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid! Being then made free
from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." Be it remembered then
that the Spirit will never lead a man to depart from the moral law.
Then again, the Spirit will never lead a man contrary to the established
proprieties of life. The Christian man has no liberties with the opposite sex

that is not given to any man in society. There is great danger in our Church
life, and especially in our revival meetings, of forgetting this. And it has been
the undoing of many a saint that he has forgotten this principle. In our strong
religious meetings where the emotional life is set on fire and a spiritual
freedom is dominant there is danger of passing from religious freedom into
fleshly license. A preacher or Christian worker has no more right to lay hands
on the person of a woman in a religious meeting than he has anywhere else.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfastly in the
faith."
The Spirit will not lead you to go contrary to the plain duties of life. He
will not lead you to preach the gospel while your family is starving at home.
There are first duties with God, and one of these is that you care for your
family. If God calls you to the ministry He will make provision for your
family. He will not lead you to neglect your business to attend religious
meetings. He expects you to be "diligent in business, fervent in spirit, serving
the Lord." He never leads a woman to go about in church work while her
family is neglected at home. Much scandal is brought upon the gospel
because people neglect their plain duties to "obey the Spirit." Negligent and
recreant to a sacred trust, they hide behind the excuse that the "Spirit led
them." Paul said to Timothy, "Teach the young women to be sober, to love
their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
good, obedient to their own husbands, that the Word of God be not
blasphemed." This does not mean that a woman shall not attend meeting, and
this is no excuse for those who are backslidden in heart who, neglecting
another duty of attending the house of God, may wish to hide behind this
exhortation, but it means that we must not neglect the plain duties of this life
to serve God. We serve God best when we attend carefully to all the duties
of life. The Spirit is not likely to call you to leave a sick mother to the care of

strangers to go to the foreign field. The Spirit will never lead us contrary to
the plain duties of life. Do not be in a hurry. "He that believeth shall not make
haste." Wait patiently for Him. "He will bring it to pass." Jesus never
neglected the plain duties of life. He is not so taken up with His religious
work that He forgets to feed the hungry multitudes. The napkin was neatly
folded in the tomb. He took time to sleep. While dying on the cross He made
provision for His mother. He did not forget to wash the disciples' feet in those
last hours and thus fulfill the custom of His time. He went to eat with
publicans and sinners, and attended the marriage at Cana. He had time for the
courtesies of life, and the plain duties were not neglected by the Son of man.
His life was normal. Why should not ours be? And yet when people receive
the Spirit they think they are going to enter upon a strange existence. They
think the common duties too tame. That they must not touch the secularities
as they call them, but they must enter the work of the Lord and become an
evangelist or a minister, just as if it were not the work of the Lord to care for
babies and sick mothers. There is a sad idea among many people that you are
not doing the work of the Lord unless you are out "winning souls for Christ."
That is, unless you are talking to some one at the altar. The work of the Lord
is building good houses for people to live in, if you build them honestly. And
caring for babies, if you care for them honestly. Do that duty that lies next to
you, and the next will be very plain.
This might be a good place to say a word about "walking by faith." There
is a great deal of error on this subject. "Walking by faith" is not living on your
neighbors. It is not becoming a beggar on society. "The just shall live by
faith." But it is not just to sit down and do nothing while others toil to keep
you. I have met many people who say they are walking by faith, and they are
doing very little walking and give very little evidence that they have faith.
There are some Christians who think it is a sin to work. They say the Spirit
shows them that it is wrong to work. Now Paul says, "If a man will not work

neither shall he eat." There are times when God's servant in the ministry will
have to work if he eats an honest meal. Paul worked with his hands, and
walked by faith while doing it. There are a lot of miserable religious tramps
who would sooner walk by faith than work with their hands. But did not
Christ tell His disciples to take neither script nor purse? Yes; and when Christ
tells you to go that way you may safely go, and you, too, will return having
the same testimony: that ye "lacked nothing." But be sure Christ tells you to
go that way. On another occasion He told them to take a purse and scrip.
Why? In the first instance, He was a popular preacher. The people would
gladly receive His disciples. Then He gave them power to heal the sick and
cast out devils. This made it easy for them to go without purse and scrip. In
the second instance, He was about to be carried outside the camp and
crucified as an impostor. The Church excommunicated Him, and "if they do
this in the green tree, what will they do in the dry?" The disciples' chances
were not the same after the crucifixion of their Lord as before. God does care
for His own, but He has many ways of doing so. If you pass into a community
where there are many true people of God you will have no trouble in getting
support, but there are places where you will come to want. In the Orient
religious teachers are reverenced, but this is not always true in the West. Paul
knew how to "be abased and how to abound." It is true to-day "that faith
without works is dead." God expects us to use our hands at times to provide
food and raiment, nor are we to think that we have stopped walking by faith
because we do so. I know of a minister who says he is walking by faith, and
I never heard him talk that he did not make known his needs until the people
took pity on him. I am not saying this to destroy your faith in God nor to
hinder you from walking in that perfect trust, but to save you from the snare
of presumption and from the sin of mendicancy. Walking by faith does not
mean sitting down and waiting for your friends to feed you.

And now in respect to God's leadings in regard to my work. How can I

know when I am going right? Many people say, "I do not know what to do."
There can be no rule laid down, but if we are truly consecrated and given up
fully to God we need not let the question of being led trouble us. "If we
acknowledge Him in all our ways He will direct our paths." "He will direct
our paths." Let us not try and lead ourselves, but let us trust Him to lead us.
Do what seems to you the best thing to do. Try to know your true motive in
doing it. Be sure you seek God's glory, for if "your eye be single your whole
body shall be full of light." If we sincerely seek God's guidance we shall not
go astray. When Paul would go into Asia Minor the "Spirit suffered him not
to go." When we come to the cross-roads the Spirit will direct our steps. Let
us trust the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. "Commit thy way unto the
Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."

The Church Under the Guidance

of the Holy Spirit.

"He shall guide you into all truth."

"When the Church is threatened with apostasy,

endangered, corrupted, and degraded, there is no hope for
it through painless preaching. It lives only as there are men
who are willing to pour their lives out into the Church for
the Church." ABBOTT.

THE CHURCH UNDER THE GUIDANCE

OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
AFTER tarrying according to the command of their Master "until ye be
endued with power from on high" the disciples left the Upper Room under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Him for whom they had been waiting, and
praying, and longing with eager, expectant hearts had come suddenly "like a
mighty rushing wind." He had come to work in them the mighty works of
God. He had come not only to cleanse their hearts and purify their innermost
souls, and to make them true in the "deepest recesses of their being," but to
"guide them into all truth." He had come to teach them all things, and to
impart to them that inner knowledge which can not be received by the outer
ear. He had come to show them things to come. They are no longer under the
bondage of Jewish tradition and Jewish ordinances, but are henceforth to be
guided by the Infinite Spirit of God. They are to obey God and not man. They
have received an "unction from the Holy One and know all things." I know
there is danger in a false interpretation of these words; a danger of throwing
off all restraint and refusing to be subject to the God-ordained ministry of the
Church; but this truth also must be cherished: that the Holy Ghost must be
heard and obeyed by the Church if she is to do her great work in the world
and fulfill her heavenly mission. They are no longer a slave to the letter of the
law of Moses, for a newer and a higher law is now in force among the sons
of God: the law of direct communion with God through the Holy Spirit. The
law is now written on their hearts. No priest stands between as the
communicator of God's will. The prophet has passed away. The prophet
pointed to the "Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world," and the
Son pointed to the Comforter who should dwell in the sin-cleansed heart and
guide it into the depths of knowledge and wisdom of God. "The Spirit of life

in Christ Jesus" has made them free from the law of sin and death. They are
going forth to obey the law of God written in their hearts by the finger of the
Spirit of God. The law has been transferred from tables of stone to the fleshy
tables of human hearts. He has put His Spirit within them, and now He
"causes them to walk in His statutes and do His commandments." They are
to walk not according to the dictates of men, but according to the dictates of
an enlightened conscience which has been illuminated by the Spirit of God.
The test of their obedience soon came. The priests and Sadducees could
not stand this freedom which took men from under their dominion and power.
It has been so in all ages. The Church, when it departs from the Spirit and
settles down in organized formality, can not endure any departure from its set
rules and ordinances, and seeks to suppress all freedom of those who have
passed under the control of divine guidance. The Church of Christ has always
stood in her own light, and ecclesiasticisms have always been a menace to the
true spiritual growth of the Church. All the bloody persecutions have resulted
from the failure of the Church to recognize the supreme authority of the Holy
Spirit in the conscience and life of the Church. "As then he that was born
after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is
now." It was always so, and will remain so until the Spirit has subdued the
flesh and the spiritual man has come to reign in all the earth. The Jews asked
His disciples by what authority they have preached in His name and have
wrought the miracle of healing. Their answer is a noble one, and it has been
the answer of every Spirit-guided man in all ages and new births of the
Church. It is just such an answer as we might expect from men; from men
who were the disciples of Him who had always set at naught the cold
Churchism of His day and obeyed the heavenly vision. It is a bold answer,
and just such an answer as comes from the lips of every son of God when
filled with the Spirit. It is such an answer as Luther gave at Worms, and
Wesley gave to the formal Church of England, and all reformers, great and

small, have given to the arrogant demands of priestcraft and to those who lord
it over God's heritage. Hear what the early Church says through its
representatives, Peter and John: "Whether it be right in the sight of God to
hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye." This is the true note of the
Spirit dispensation: to hearken unto God, and when the will of man crosses
the will of God to obey God and not man. That there is danger of
insubordination to the divinely appointed men of God we admit, but the
greater danger is that we shall heed the threatenings of men and disobey the
voice of God. After this act of obedience the place is shaken and they are all
filled with the Holy Ghost, for "He is given to them that obey Him." When
the Church will throw away its machinery and the many encumbrances which
have collected with the ages and obey the Spirit of life and power, she shall
again know what it is to be filled with the Spirit and power of an endless life.
There are some things in the Church which have served their purpose and are
no longer used of God.
Another case showing the Church to be under the guidance of the Spirit is
the case of Ananias and Sapphira. They have not lied to men, but to the Holy
Ghost. It is not the authority of the apostles they have rejected, but the divine
authority of the Spirit. It would have been a shocking case of intolerance if
they had been punished with death for disobeying even the command of an
apostle, but they have lied to the Holy Ghost. This incident taught the early
Church the danger of not heeding the Voice from heaven. "See that ye refuse
not Him that speaketh. For if they escape not who refused Him that spake on
earth, much more shall not we escape if we refuse Him that speaketh from
heaven."
The disciples were put in prison because they obeyed this authority which
is higher than the authority of man or any set of men, but the angel of the
Lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said, "Go

stand and speak in the temple of God to the people all the words of this life."
"And when they heard that they entered into the temple early in the morning
and taught." Now we have the second answer, "We ought to obey God rather
than men." "We are the witnesses of those things; so also the Holy Ghost
whom God hath given to them that obey Him." They are still walking in the
Spirit and recognizing His authority to be supreme in their lives. They are
listening to one Voice, and that Voice from heaven. They set aside all
councils and men when those councils and men are contrary to the dictates
of their enlightened conscience. The Roman Church said, "Obey the councils
and decrees of the Church." Luther said, "Obey the Scriptures and the Divine
Voice speaking through those Scriptures." And the Reformation was the
result. This is the essence and power of Christianity. Christianity gives men
power to obey the highest authority. It sets him free from the fear and
thralldom of men. Christianity brings man under the rule of the highest
freedom. Man's highest freedom is in being a servant of God.
"And when they had beaten them they commanded that they should not
speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. And they departed from the
presence of the council, rejoicing that they were worthy to suffer shame. And
daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to teach and preach
Jesus Christ." What a rebuke this ought to be to the policy-seeking Church
of to-day! What a shame that we have not such freedom to do the will of
God! How many voices have been silenced by the commands of men which
might have been lifted in behalf of the freedom of the Church and the spread
of the gospel in our lands! How many there are who cower before the threats
of men who if "filled with the Spirit" would set at naught the councils of the
ungodly and boldly witness for Christ! What a need there is to-day of men
who will speak "all the words of this life" in the temple! May we, dear reader,
have the grace to stand in the face of the opposition of men who are "enemies
of the cross of Christ?"

We turn now to the guidance of the Spirit in the life of the Church. It is
easier to obey the Spirit in the times of persecution than in the quieter times
of social construction. The Church has always been true in times of
opposition; would that the same could be said of her in the times of peace!
The first three centuries witnessed no serious departure from the Spirit's
leadings. The early Church seeks earnestly to find the mind of the Spirit in
the smallest details of her organic life. All life has organism. And the higher
the life, the more delicate the organism will be. The Spirit brooded over the
face of the abyss and brought order out of chaos. The Church of Christ will
become organic. Some see danger in any attempt to organize, but the Spirit
is the Author of "things done in decency and in order." You can not think of
life without organic form. The life of the Deity is organized into the form of
Trinity. From the Amoeba to the Trinity all life has form. Under the guidance
of the Spirit the Church begins to grow into organic form. It is not against
organism we should contend, but against organism which is man-made and
leaves no place for the free voice of the Spirit of God to be heard and obeyed.
It is not against the form of godliness the apostle of spiritual Christianity
hurls his invectives, but against the "form of godliness without the power."
There is as much danger in uncircumcision as in circumcision. Both are
dangerous when they are a substitute for the spiritual freedom into which the
Holy Ghost would bring the mind of man. It is form without life we must
beware of. It is from the dead rose withered and decaying we turn, and not the
full-grown flower exhaling its aromatic fragrance. It is the dead Church from
which we turn in disgust. It is Judaism, or Roman Catholicism, or
Anglicanism, or Methodism without life and power from which the Spirit of
God has departed and from which spiritual men turn away. It matters not
whether men wear the surplice if underneath there is a heart filled with the
Spirit of Christ. The surplice did not hinder Robertson from sending forth
from a heart and brain aglow with the fire of Calvary the word which kindled
in the breasts of thousands a strong devotion for the truth. When the

Presbyterians turned in disgust from the office of bishop it was because that
office was filled by hirelings who knew nothing of Christianity. When Fox
refused to take off his hat to the lords of the land it was because men had
made themselves slaves to those lords. We can not be the true servants of
men until we are free from men. Let us not cry out against organization, but
seek that organization which honors the Holy Ghost and submits to His rule.
The Church chose out men filled with the Holy Ghost to serve tables. How
little He is recognized in the Church to-day! Men of no spirituality of life are
considered eligible for the offices of the Church. What greater curse can
come to the Church than to have men handle her finances who are men of the
world! A man may be successful in the business world, who will be a curse
to the Church unless he is filled with the Spirit of God. It is this sin of the
Church in turning over her finances to the rich and worldly-minded which has
opened the floodgates of the abominable practices for raising money which
characterize most of our Churches.
Where are the Spirit-filled men who will follow the example of their
Master and take the whip of small cords and drive the buyers and sellers from
the temple, and turn the house of God into a house of prayer? Surely the
Spirit of God is not the author of these heathen practices, He does not indorse
such unholy ways of supporting the work of God. Had the Church remained
true to the Spirit's leadings she never would have stooped to such connivings
and worldly practices of raising money. Let the Church come under the
guidance of the Spirit and she will become ashamed of these wicked
methods. Surely the Church needs to call out some deacons of honest report,
who will follow the leadings of the Spirit in the finances of the Church.
In its evangelistic work the Spirit moved under divine guidance. Philip left
the revival in Samaria to go into the wilderness at the call of the Spirit to bear
the message to the eunuch. There was wonderful freedom among the

disciples. They counseled together, but they moved about at the call of the
Spirit. It was the Holy Ghost who made the elders overseers of the flock of
God. He is not only present in their assemblies, but He is called upon to guide
and direct their proceedings. The Church heard the voice of God saying,
"Separate Saul and Barnabas to go unto the Gentiles." Men were not sent to
the difficult mission fields because they had graduated from a college, but
because the Spirit had said, "Set them apart." The Church needs to return to
her former practice of asking the candidates for the ministry if they have a
call to preach. Nowadays the ministry is chosen as a profession. Men do not
expect and do not receive a special call to the ministry. There is no wonder
that many turn from the ministry to other callings. Why not? If they entered
it as a mere profession. The Church was likewise under guidance in dealing
with the Gentiles. Under the guidance of the Spirit we shall learn not to lay
heavy burdens on other people: that is, not to force our religious convictions
on others, thus making our convictions standards of righteousness which the
Lord has not imposed. We are too apt to want to stamp converts with our
convictions of right and wrong. We thus make proselytes and not Christians.
The early Church did not proselyte, and no spiritually-minded man will make
converts unto himself. The early Church did not interfere with the Jew if he
believed in circumcision, but it insisted that he should not bind this Jewish
rite upon the Gentile Christians. And this was right. What is essential to
salvation the Spirit will teach, and what is not essential the Church must not
bind on believers. The doctrine of liberty was, "Let every man be fully
persuaded in his own mind." "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to
us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." Paul says,
"Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of
the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come;
but the body is of Christ." And again, "Let not him that eateth despise him
that eateth not; and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth: for God
hath received him." Let every man be true to the inner voice of God. How

unlike the spirit of this early Church was the spirit of the Church that at the
stake and in the dungeon and on the rack tried to force men to accept her
doctrines and believe her creeds! Under the leadership of the Holy Ghost
liberty is preserved and individualism is protected. Nor will He allow the soul
to pass into gross license. Under His leadership there is no check put upon the
individual actions if they are in harmony with holy living; there is no binding
of the conscience, no suppression of Christian liberty, no honoring of men at
the expense of God's honor, no persecuting of those who differ from us, no
yielding to the authority of men when truth is at stake, no disputing the rights
of others to worship God according to the dictates of the conscience; but
there is unswerving loyalty to what the soul believes right, and a full
obedience to the truth that makes us free. The Spirit entreats, He never forces
one to believe. The Spirit never coerces the mind.
A religion without the Holy Spirit, though it has all the ordinances and all
the doctrines of the New Testament, would certainly not be Christianity.
"Without His presence and operation in the hearts of the believers and in
Christian agents we can not have the Christian religion." We have been
overtaken by a strong delusion: that is, to believe that a man can be a true
Christian without being filled and led by the Holy Spirit. Paul says, "For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." That a man
can be a Christian and not be filled with the Spirit: that is, a full-typed
Christian; or that a Church can be a Christian Church and not be under the
direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, is foreign to the New Testament. Nor is it
the recognition of the Spirit in the creed that makes a Christian Church, but
the Spirit filling the hearts of the believers, and giving them power to become
the sons of God, and to obtain "salvation through the sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth."

The first condition of the Spirit's guidance is a willingness and a readiness

to obey the Spirit under any circumstances and at any cost. You can not cross
the threshold of the kingdom of Christ until you are ready to obey the higher
authority. You must be a servant of Christ and not a servant of men. The Holy
Ghost is "given to them that obey Him." Let us not deceive ourselves into
believing that we are Christians until we are ready to take up our cross and
follow Him; until we are ready to do God's bidding at any loss of comfort or
ease or worldly gain. The Christian must obey God, though in so doing he
offends all men; he must obey God, even if in so doing he loses all his earthly
possessions and dies in a dungeon, or is "sawn asunder;" he must obey God,
if it means the loss of earthly friends and brings down the wrath of the
Church upon his head. No man can be led of the Spirit who fears "what man
can do unto him." No Church can be under the guidance of the Spirit which
fears to offend the world. He must be obeyed absolutely, or else He leaves the
Church to grope in darkness and stumble in the night of error. All the dark
errors of the ages past are the result of the Church losing, by her
disobedience, the "Spirit of truth." "Walk while you have the light, lest
darkness come upon you." Christ obeyed the Father, and they cast Him out
of the synagogues; Christ obeyed the Father, and they led Him to the cross.
He "learned obedience by the things He suffered."
The reason why the Spirit's power is not felt among us is because we are
too much in bondage to men; we are too fearful of offending men. The Holy
Ghost has too little margin in our lives. If we follow the Spirit it may bring
hardships, loss of friends, loss of reputation; it may bring poverty, it may
make us peculiar and eccentric, and we do not want to incur the displeasure
of men and lose the esteem of those high in authority in the Church. We
"quench the Spirit" and grieve the Holy Ghost, and seek honor from men and
not "the honor that cometh from God only." With the baptism of the Spirit

you will find deliverance from the fear of men, for "Perfect love casteth out
all fear," and the spiritual man "knows no man after the flesh."
Another condition of being led of the Spirit is a quick response and an
unwavering obedience to His calls. If we hesitate to obey, the opportunity is
soon gone and we fall into the habit of disobedience. When the Spirit calls let
us respond quickly. To stop and argue is to get into confusion and then into
doubt. "If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit." So many people
are afraid of following their impressions that they seem never to know the
voice of the Spirit. Let us learn to trust the Spirit. Later I shall give some
simple rules for knowing the voice of the Spirit, but remember He said, "My
sheep hear My voice and follow Me." If you are a true son of God and a
prayerful child of God you are in no great danger of going astray. We "have
the mind of Christ."
Another condition is to obey joyfully. Do what God tells you to do with
gladness of heart; not as a slave, but as a "co-laborer together with Him." The
joy of the Lord will be your strength.
Another condition is that you are free from hindrances to obey. Peter's
prejudice hindered him from obeying quickly the Spirit's call to go to the
Gentile Cornelius. Prejudice (and how many are entirely free from it?) will
hinder you from obeying the Spirit. Our hearts must be free from it. Ananias
held a controversy with the Lord before he would go to Saul with God's
message. It was Peter's prejudice that brought on the trouble between himself
and Paul at the Council. Prejudice in the heart of a saint is a serious hindrance
to the Spirit's guidance.
Then many of us are too much entangled in the affairs of this world to be
led of the Spirit. We have made alliances that hinder us from following the

Spirit's leadings. What a serious thing to be thus hampered in God's great

work! How many there are who can not now follow the Spirit's call because
of these worldly alliances! In a meeting not long since a young woman came
weeping and said, "I want to obey the Spirit, but something is in the way." In
her early years the Spirit had called her to the mission field, but in a
backslidden condition she had married an ungodly man, and in the meeting
the Spirit's call was repeated, for remember, "the gifts and calling of God are
without repentance," and because of her alliance she was unable to obey.
There are many such serious cases, and eternity alone will fathom the
seriousness of such disobedience. It pays to let God have His way with our
lives, and to let Him have it absolutely and forever. Paul's advice is good, "Be
not entangled with the affairs of this world that you may please Him who hath
called you to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ." In choosing friends see that
they do not become an entanglement. Keep your heart free for the glorious
service of God. God is wisdom and God is love, and He will direct your steps
in wisdom and love, and the Spirit will guide into all truth. Amen.
Then, once more, too many of God's children are too much absorbed in
their own work to hear the Spirit's call to other fields. Our plans are too rigid,
and we are too set in our ways to make any change. How few evangelists like
Philip would leave a great revival to travel a desert and talk to one soul about
Jesus Christ! We have wrong estimates of God's work. We are too much
carried away with crowds and with what the world calls success to obey the
Spirit. Few men hear God's providence calling them to unpromising fields;
to churches with smaller salaries and greater toil. Let us all place our lives at
His disposal. Let us seek earnestly and faithfully the guidance of the Spirit,
and He will surely "guide us into all truth."

The Anointing of the Spirit.

"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye

know all things."

"The anointing also creates the soul anew, and makes it

conscious of newness of life. Sooner or later, according as
the pupil of the Holy Spirit is diligent in scholarship, the
anointing imparts the more abundant life, and perfects the
enkindled love by exterminating lingering carnality through
spiritual circumcision." STEELE.

THE ANOINTING OF THE SPIRIT.

LET us not get into confusion by dividing up the work of the Holy Spirit
into too many experiences. The anointing of the Spirit is one phase of the
Spirit's work in the heart of the believer. The anointing given to believers was
to give them spiritual insight into truth, especially the truth relating to the
divinity of Christ. This is evident if you study the words of the disciples
following the baptism at Pentecost. "He shall take of the things of Mine and
show them unto you." "He shall glorify Me." "No man speaking in the Spirit
of God saith, Jesus is anathema; and no man can say Jesus is Lord, but in the
Holy Spirit." Paul says, "God revealed His Son in Me." There can not be a
true knowledge of the Divine Lord until the Spirit by divine anointing has
opened the eyes of the soul. Christ must be revealed to the soul by the Holy
Ghost. When Peter said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,"
Christ said, "Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father
which is in heaven." This anointing will certainly affect our preaching, for
how can we truly preach Christ until He has been revealed to our hearts as the
true Son of God?" The disciples had a very misty idea of Christ before
Pentecost, but there is no uncertain sound in their preaching after the Spirit
had come to their hearts. The greatest power I know of in preaching is to have
a true and heartfelt conception of what one is preaching. It is not so much a
true creed concerning the divinity of our Lordthe disciples had that before
Pentecostbut a living vision of the living Lord, who is both Lord and
Christ. Give a man that vision and there will be power in his preaching. And
that vision comes with the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
The word anoint in the Old Testament means "to fatten," "to smear," "to
pour out." The word generally used in the New Testament is chrio, which

means "to rub." There is another word used by John, and only used in the
second chapter of the first epistle and the 20th and 27th verses. The word is
chrisma, and means "rubbing in." We shall consider this word later.
In the Old Testament anointing was the official inauguration into three of
the highest offices of the Hebrew nationking, prophet, high priest. This was
typical of Christ the "Anointed One." "The kings of the earth set themselves
and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His
Anointed." The word Christ signifies anointed, as the word chrism signifies
anointment. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He hath anointed me
to preach the Gospel to the poor." (Chrio.) The same word is used in Acts
4:27; 10:38; 2 Cor. 1:21, and Heb. 1:9. This was the anointing for service.
The anointing and the baptism of the Spirit are not to be considered as
separate works of the Spirit, any more than the baptism of the Holy Ghost and
with fire are to be so considered as some errorists teach. "Except ye be born
of water and of the Spirit ye can not enter into the kingdom of heaven" does
not mean two new births. The anointing or the baptism of the Spirit is
manifold in its operations. It does give power for service, but that power for
service does not mean always that the one anointed shall do great things.
Power to serve means vastly more than to preach great sermons and conduct
great meetings or to win souls. Peter served God as truly when he lay chained
in prison as when he preached on the day of Pentecost. "This is the work of
God, that ye believe on Him that sent Me." It is not power to do great things
we need, but power to believe God when we can not trace Him, and to be
patient in trial and longsuffering in persecution. "That ye might walk worthy
of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and
increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according
to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.
Col. 1:10, 11. The anointing is not a matter of service, but of inward loyalty
to Jesus Christ. The "Holy Ghost is given to them that obey Him." It is not

great works God demands of us, but great obedience to His divine will. Many
people are led to believe that when they get this great baptism of the Spirit
that it will make them great preachers, and evangelists, and missionaries. The
baptism of the Spirit will fit you to do and to be your best in the chosen
sphere to which God has called you. The baptism of the Spirit has nothing to
do with your calling, but to the full equipment of that calling. Christ called
His disciples to their holy ministry, and the Holy Spirit fitted them to perform
it. Paul said he was separated from his mother's womb for the ministry, but
he was not prepared to enter that ministry until he had received the anointing
of the Spirit. This is the reason Jesus told His disciples to tarry in Jerusalem
until they were "endued with power from on high," for, He said, "Ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you."
The baptism of the Holy Ghost does not constitute man's entire fitness for
work in the Master's vineyard. A man may be filled with the Spirit and be
unfitted for the ministry. The Spirit augments man's abilities and imparts gifts
for service, but does not call men to any service for which by nature they are
unfitted. The Spirit does not make all men leaders in the Church, but He does
make all men spiritual and enables them to "walk worthy of their high calling
in Christ Jesus," for He has called all to minister in some capacity, for "He
hath made us kings and priests unto God." Ye also, as lively stones, are built
up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the
praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
That is why you need the anointing, because God hath called you to be
priests, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. You are to "present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service." You need the anointing to inaugurate you into this holy
office. This priesthood in Christ Jesus is a greater thing than being a minister.

Every baptized Christian is inducted into this holy calling. And from this
priesthood God hath chosen "some apostles, some prophets, some
evangelists, some teachers for the perfecting of the saints." The Christian
ministry is not an order, but a calling. The priesthood of believers is the only
order of the Christian Church. We are "all baptized into one Spirit." This is
the service for which you need the anointing of the Spirit. The service of this
holy priesthood, to "offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God through Jesus
Christ."
Let us now consider the subject in another aspect. In 1 John 2:20, we have
the word chrisma, which is translated anointing. The word means "rubbing
in." It is the anointing that teacheth all things. The Comforter was to teach the
disciples all things. He was to bring to remembrance all things that Jesus had
taught them and which they had failed to understand in their true spiritual
significance. The anointing of the Spirit is to give them discernment of
spirits. The Holy Ghost is to preserve truth. The Church of Christ would not
have gone off into such vagaries if she had remained true to the anointing
Spirit. It is a fatal day for the Church when she fails to see the need of this
anointing as a subsequent work to regeneration. The Church can not remain
in the truth without the abiding Spirit of truth. And the lay members need the
anointing to hear as the preachers need it to preach. Samuel Rutherford said,
"If you would be a deep divine I recommend to you sanctification, i.e., the
anointing." If you would be a deep Christian and be "filled with all the
knowledge of His will," I recommend to you the anointing. You can not be
a spiritual son of God without the Spirit's anointing. Your regeneration will
soon be degeneration without the abiding Spirit of God to teach you all
things. The Christians to whom John wrote were in danger of falling away
from the gospel. He said "there are even now many Antichrists in the world"
who "went out from us," because "they were not of us." But he says, "You
have an unction, (or chrisma), from the Holy One, and ye know all things."

This anointing enables them to "try the spirits whether they are of God:
because many false prophets are gone out into the world." And who are these
false spirits but those that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come into the
world. You see by this connection what John means by them knowing all
things. And also what he means in the 27th verse by the words, "Ye need not
that any man teach you." The wrong interpretation of these verses has led
many into grievous errors. The anointing does not gender spiritual pride. It
does not make a man "think more highly of himself than he ought to think."
It does not make a man independent of the ministry ordained of God to edify
the Church. The all things here can be very properly translated "every man,"
and the panton in verse 27 "all men." And what truth does the anointing teach
all men? That Jesus Christ has come in the flesh and that all who deny this
truth are seducers and Antichrists. Many have been led to despise their Bibles
because they have misunderstood John's meaning. And they "that despise the
Word of God shall perish." The anointing of the Spirit then gives a clear
vision of truth and a true discernment of spirits, and preserves the true
orthodoxy of the Church. "As long," says Dr. Whedon, "as we possess the
holy chrism we will adhere to a holy Christ." How much the modern Church
needs to heed the exhortation of Jesus to the Laodicean Church, "I counsel
you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see." Let
not the true Church fear, for she has an unction from the Holy One, and "ye
know all things." The Spirit will preserve the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. The
Spirit of truth will not suffer truth to perish from the bosom of the Church.
This leads us to a further consideration of the work of the anointing of the
Spirit, namely, steadfastness of purpose. John says, "But the anointing which
ye have received of Him abideth in you." It is not correct to speak of many
anointings. There are manifestations of the Spirit, but these are not to be

called anointings. They are revelations of the Spirit at special times of trial
and for special services, but the "anointing which ye have received of Him
abideth." The Spirit establisheth the soul in grace. This is the "grace wherein
we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." "Now He which
stablisheth us with you is Christ, and hath anointed us is God, who hath
sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." He who has
received the Spirit's anointing is no longer "a double-minded man," but one
who has an "eye single to the glory of God." He is not "unstable in all his
ways," but is "steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord," and "is kept ready to be revealed at the last day." Brethren wondered
how it was that the writer could pass through college and seminary and come
out still believing evangelical truths; and the reason is this: because in the
first year of his school life he received the anointing. It is the only protection
against being carried away by novel speculations, and "new thought," and
"new theology," so-called. There would not be such fearful fallings away
from grace if the converts of the Church were led to receive this divine
anointing. "But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were
illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were
made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye
became companions of them that were so used." Dr. Whedon says, "Of those
who truly receive this anointing in the fulness of its illumination, strength,
and bliss, few ever realize its entire withdrawal." "We teach no Antinomian
anointing when we teach this." It is impossible to remain true to the faith,
impossible to remain steadfast in purpose, impossible to "endure a great fight
of afflictions," impossible "to fight the good fight of faith, finish the course
and keep the faith" without the anointing of the Holy Ghost. It is because they
have not received the anointing that "many in the last days shall depart from
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and the doctrines of devils." And for
this same reason that many shall "fall away" in the last times. How are you
going to know when they cry, "Lo here and lo there!" unless the Spirit of truth

abides in you? Sincere people have in all ages followed the Antichrists, and
many wise people have been deceived by the false prophets, and you will not
be able to stand the subtleties of Satan unless you have this anointing. He
alone can "stablish you, strengthen, settle you" in the whole will of God. He
alone is "able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the
throne of His glory leaping for joy." He will give you
"The instinct that can tell that God is on the field,
When He is most invisible."
Then once more. The anointing of the Spirit is to make us witnesses for
Christ. Greater than preaching is witnessing. The power of the early Church
was not in its preaching, great as that was, but in its witnesses. "Ye were
witnesses of these things." "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost
has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." And
the Lord said unto Ananias, "Go thy way; for he is a chosen vessel unto Me
to bear My name before the Gentiles, and kings and children of Israel." The
Church has lost this witnessing power because it no longer insists on the
necessity for the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The modern testimony meetings
are a parody on this witnessing Church of the apostolic days. "They overcame
by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony." They witnessed
in the face of bitter opposition. They witnessed at the stake, and confessed
that this is not their home, but that they look for a city not made with hands,
eternal in the heavens." Their cry was,
"What we have seen and heard,
With confidence we tell;
And publish to the sons of men
The signs infallible."

The tongues of fire which stood on the disciples heads: what did they
signify if not this witnessing power? "Follow after charity, and desire
spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy." The Church that has not a
witnessing membership is not the Christian Church, for the Christian Church
is a witnessing Church. If your pastor does not at times relate his personal
experience he is not a true shepherd, for the "husbandman must be first
partakers of the fruits." Paul standing before Agrippa knew of no more
convincing argument for the truth of the Christian religion than his own
personal experience. And there was none. And the greatest propagators of the
truth of Christ in all ages are those anointed ones who can say, "We know
that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren."
Have we received this anointing? If not, shall we not seek it to-day? Will
you not let Him bring you into the "inner circle" of His friendship by
anointing you with the Spirit of truth? Are you not tired of being tossed about
by every wind and doctrine? Are you not weary of your many failings and
shortcomings? Are you not tired of displeasing God with your "sinning and
repenting?" Do you not long to be established in the grace wherein you may
stand fast in the Lord and be strong? The anointing is for you, not to make
you some great one in the Church, but to make you true at all times to Jesus
Christ. To impart a power that "is not a sort of might with which we are
invested and by which a remarkable ability of accomplishment is conferred,"
a power that "is not a reservoir filled to the brim with a subtle spiritual
effluence which is liable to escape by evaporation or through a leaky vessel,"
but a "glorious power, unto all patience, longsuffering, with joyfulness."
"O, Spirit of the mighty God uplift my faith,
Till heaven's own precious light shall flood my soul;
And the shining of my face declare,
That I have seen the face of God."

The Holy Spirit In Prayer.

"Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our

infirmities: for we know not what we should
pray for as we ought: but the Spirit Himself
maketh intercession for us with groanings
which can not be uttered."
In the life of Jesus Christ prayer was more than a
communion with God: it was the working power of
His life." DAVID GREGG.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PRAYER.

"BUT ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God."
Christ put a new meaning in prayer. It was to Him more than a petition, for
He said, "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of these things."
It was more than a ritualistic performance and perfunctory act of worship, for
He told His disciples to enter their secret closets, and when they had shut the
door to talk to the Father "that seeth in secret." The disciples noticed the
divine power and simplicity in the prayers of Jesus, and said, "Lord, teach us
how to pray." True prayer is Spirit-indited prayer. The Holy Spirit is the
Author of all prayer that brings an answer from the skies.
To treat prayer theologically would be like cutting open the lungs to see
where the breath comes from or like cutting open the heart to see why it
beats. We can not understand the philosophy of prayer. Prayer, like life itself,
is a great mystery. It is the "Christian's vital breath," and the indwelling Spirit
is the Author of all true prayer. All men pray at times, but the sinner's prayer
is the cry of fear, or the limited prayer of penitence. The Spirit is the Author
of the sinner's cry for mercy. No man can pray the heaven-directed prayer
without the help of the Spirit of God.
To-day prayer is considered mainly from the rationalistic standpoint, and
its value is said to be in its reflex action on the mind and body. It is not
thought by many in the Church to have the power to change the mind or
purpose of God. Science objects to the Christian view of prayer on the ground
that the laws of nature are fixed and can not be changed, and that it is

presumption for any one to think that prayer can change such laws. Prayer to
many is simply the longing of the heart which can not expect an answer, or
perhaps receives its only answer in the response of the soul. One has written,
"How many prayers are simply the out-breathings of a reverential fear, or are
a mere dead formalism, or the results of sheer habit! How many are little else
than agonized longings accompanied with no joyous expectation!" It is only
those who deny the supernatural who deny prayer its true place in the
Christian system. It is true that prayer has a reflex action and a calming
influence on the mind, because there is a form of prayer that is meditative,
and its value lies in its communion with God. The superintendent of the
Bethlehem Royal Hospital gives this testimony to the value of prayer in the
following words, "As an alienist and one whose whole life has been
concerned with the sufferings of the mind, I would state that of all hygienic
measures to counteract disturbed sleep, depressed spirits, and all the
miserable sequels of a distressed mind, I would undoubtedly give the first
place to the simple habit of prayer." Many of our modern pseudo-Christian
sects think of prayer only as a hygienic remedy for a disturbed mind. But
Christian prayer is a loftier thing than that. Whether we can understand it or
not, prayer does change the order of things, and the scientist must leave a
large margin in his thinking for Christian prayer. Miracles have been wrought
in the past and will be wrought in the future in answer to believing prayer. It
remains written for all generations as an encouragement to pray, that "The
effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," and that "Elias
was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it
might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and
six months, and he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth
brought forth her fruit." Great deeds are recorded in the Old Testament which
were wrought through prevailing prayer. But it is in the New Testament that
we get the greatest encouragement to pray. There are two things that settle the

question of prayer for the Christian: first, Christ prayed, and second, Christ
told us to pray. And the history of the Christian Church teaches us that,
"More things are wrought through prayer,
Than this world dreams of."
But what is Christian prayer? It is more than asking things from God, and
it is more than a quieting influence on tired nerves. It is all this, but infinitely
more. It is the Spirit making intercession for us with groanings that can not
be uttered. "Prayer is the working of the Spirit within the soul of man. Prayer
is agony at times. It takes strength and courage to pray. George Adam Smith
says, "Our Lord's praying times were the times fullest of effort, strain, and
struggle." Think of Him in the Garden. "And being in an agony He prayed
more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling
down to the ground." Think of Him, "Who in the days of His flesh, when He
had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto
Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared."
Paul prayed "night and day with tears," and we read that the "agonizing
prayer of the righteous man availeth much." Christian prayer is more than
saying words, and it is more than the hypocritical utterances of the manhonoring Pharisee. McClellan, in his book, "The Mind of Christ," says, "He
who could work a miracle with a word, refute His enemies with a sentence,
and confront the majesty of Rome with composure, could not pray for
Himself without effort, exhaustion, even anguish." There is real agony at
times in spiritual praying. "He maketh intercession with groanings that can
not be uttered." It is the prayer of intercession. It is prayer that has gone
beyond words and has passed out into sorrow and anguish for the lost world.
Fraser, in his little book entitled, "Prayer and the Spiritual Life," tells of a
man who died on his knees, as Livingstone died in the heart of Africa. He
says, "He prayed more and more, and he used to take the map of the world

before him and pray, and look over the different countries and pray for them,
till he absolutely expired in his room praying." What a mysterious thing we
behold in this instance! A man burdened with the needs of the world, and the
Spirit groaning within him for the world's redemption. How few there are
who know such prayer! This is the high function of prayer: to intercede by the
indwelling Holy Ghost. All Christians are not called to be such burdenbearers, but all Spirit-filled Christians will know something of the "groanings
which can not be uttered." There will be special seasons when the Spirit will
pray through His Church in this mighty way. The Christian is not to seek
these experiences, nor to covet them. It is the Spirit's work, and if the soul is
right with God and walking in obedience to the mind of the Spirit, He will
bring on these seasons of prayer. I have seen Christians troubled because they
did not have that "passion for souls" and that "spirit of prayer" they once had.
Now, of course, you can not have "that spirit of prayer" if you are not walking
obediently with God, but it is no sign that you are not pleasing God because
you have not that great burden of prayer you had a little while back. We must
continue in prayer, and "pray without ceasing," but remember these agonizing
prayers are not the normal state of the soul, nor do I think the Holy Spirit
calls all holy Christians into the Garden to travail in prayer. But such praying
is needed in the plan of redemption, and the Spirit will call out the bur-denbearers, and it is the duty of the Church to hold their faith and strengthen their
hands during the struggle. In other words, "to watch one little hour." Such
praying is praying in the Holy Ghost. Such suffering is bearing the afflictions
Christ left behind.
But spiritual praying is praying "according to the will of God," for we
know not what we should ask for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered. And He that
searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He
maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God." We should

never be presumptuous in our praying, nor rash in our asking, and certainly
not impolite when addressing ourselves to the Deity, but it may seem to us at
times that our words are too bold when they are really the utterances of faith
and the boldness imparted by the Holy Spirit. I remember reading somewhere
of a preacher who prayed in the presence of other ministers and in his
earnestness he used this expression, "O Lord, disgrace not the throne of Thy
glory." The brother clergymen thought such words were sacrilegious, and
waited on the preacher for an explanation, when he said: "Brethren, I was
quoting Scripture; these are the words of Jeremiah." Simple, pure faith
commands God. Importunity sounds impolite at times, and the prayer that
will not take no for an answer is not always choice in its rhetoric. Jacob says,
"I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me." Abraham is insistent and says,
"Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once." Moses
importunes in strongest language when he says, "Yet now, if Thou wilt
forgive their sinand if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which
Thou hast written." David prays imperatively: "Give ear to my prayer, O God,
and hide not Thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me, and hear me."
The woman of Canaan insisted and urged her case with great importunity,
and the disciples would have Him turn her away, "for she crieth after us."
Paul said, "For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from
me," when praying to have the thorn removed, and exhorts the Ephesian
Church to pray "always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and
watching thereunto with perseverance and supplication for all saints." James
says, "That Spirit which He made to dwell in us yearneth for us even unto
jealous envy." (R.V.) I have frequently uttered these words, when in the spirit
of prevailing prayer, "I insist, Lord, I insist." They would seem impolite at
other times, nor do I think they would be proper at other times, but when the
spirit of prayer is upon the soul such language not only seems in place, but
seems to be the only language that can give expression to the living voice
within. O for more such praying! It is such praying in all the ages of the past

that has moved the arm of God, and it will take such praying again to "bring
the Lord God down." How truly the Scriptures saith, "When Zion travaileth
she shall bring forth children." All great revivals are born of such praying,
and if we would see the mighty work of God we must call on the Spirit to
indite our prayers, and "make intercessions for us with groanings which can
not be uttered." It is not only more prayer, but more prayer in the Spirit the
Church of God needs. There is practically no praying in some Churches,
unless you call those "sentence prayers" so common in modern religious
societies praying. We are sometimes reminded by our quiet friends "that God
is not dead," but they forget the mission of prayer is not to awaken God, but
to awaken man. It is a conflict in the spiritual realm, and it is always hard for
a man to become desperately in earnest and not become at the same time
demonstrative in his appeals. This is true when he is making his appeals at
the throne of grace. It is true there is much noisy praying that is not spiritual,
but it remains true that when the Spirit maketh intercession for us it is "with
groanings which can not be uttered." It is prayer that has passed into an
agony.
But prayer is not only suffering, it is a "working force." Prayer
accomplishes things. It works, yea, it creates. It brings to pass the things that
are not, and accomplishes things that could not be done by any other force.
There is no real substitute for spiritual praying. It is indispensable in the plan
of redemption. Men are commanded to pray and not faint. It is a Christian
duty to pray. Men ought to pray. How few people think of prayer as a
working force! That it really does things! We have all thought of prayer in a
much too limited sense. We look upon prayer as lost time. It is given a very
small margin in our Christian work to-day. It is kept up as a form, but we are
glad when it is over. The prayer-meeting is a social hour spent in the study of
the Sunday-school lesson. However you may explain it, things come to pass
when Christians pray in earnest. It is not easy to see how prayer becomes a

working force in the world of spiritualities, but all who know prayer at all
know that prayer is not lost time, but that it adds efficiency to the toiler,
strengthens the arm, and nerves the heart for the combat. Luther said on one
occasion, "This is going to be a very busy day; I must pray four hours to-day
instead of three." John Knox prayed eight hours each day, and was a great
worker. All saints who have done a great work for God have spent much time
in prayer. The Church in her greatest moments has been a praying Church. It
is told how that when John Fletcher, the saint of Methodism, first went to
England, he was introduced to the despised Methodists by the caustic remark,
"They pray all the time." And the Methodists saved England from a bloody
revolution by their praying. It might be truly postulated that the power in the
Christian's life is commensurate with his power in prayer. The early disciples
said, "We will give ourselves to the Word and to prayer." Prayer was such an
important part in the life-work of Christ. His public praying was not as the
Pharisees, it is true, but His private praying was on a very high order, and it
is frequently said, "'He went into the mountain to pray." Judas knew where
to find Him on the night of the betrayal because "it was the place where He
was wont to pray." Let us "pray without ceasing." Let us pray before we act
and after we act. We see this spirit of prayer in the life of Paul. He writes to
the Ephesians, "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ." Let us not forget that prayer is work and very hard work, but
work that counts in the Christian warfare as nothing else counts. It is
observed by all who have made a study of the great spiritual movements
which have regenerated the masses that mighty praying has been the great
accompaniment and the great force in the movement. At such times the Spirit
intercedes "with groanings that can not be uttered." At such times those who
have been hitherto passive in prayer become mighty pleaders. I have recently
passed through such a spiritual upheaval, and the prayer was tremendous. For
many hours a day some of the people would pray, and far on into the night.
It was agonizing prayer, and such praying as only could be done by the

inditing of the mighty Spirit of God. No human being could do it unassisted.

They were gripped by a mighty spirit of prayer, and this continued for days
and weeks with some. It was not "vain repetitions as the heathen do," but
mighty soul-pleading born of the Holy Spirit.
But prayer born of the Spirit has another element in it not often considered.
It is a fighting force, as well as a working force. It is a weapon in the
Christian warfare. There is a hymn that brings out this thought that praying
is also fighting:
"Undaunted to the field he goes;
Yet vain were skill and valor there,
Unless, to foil his legion foes,
He takes the trustiest weapon, prayer."
When Paul gives the Christian armor, he closes the list with these words,
"Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching
thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints." "For," he
says, "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers' of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places." Spiritual praying is conflict with these
powers of the skies.
When Daniel had been fasting and praying for three weeks, the angel told
him that he had heard his praying at the beginning but had been hindered
from coming by the interference of the Prince of Persia, who had opposed
him. This he gave as an explanation for the struggle Daniel had been having
in prayer. We are all apt to forget that "we wrestle not against flesh and
blood, but against principalities." Is there any wonder that there are mighty
pleadings and terrible soul-conflicts at times in the Christian warfare, and that

there come seasons of great soul-darkness at times when we are praying? And
then comes what we call the break. Is this not when the powers of darkness
yield to this importunate praying as the judge yielded to the continual asking
of the woman? Praying in the Spirit is wrestling with the powers of darkness,
and it is to this mighty and mysterious power, inbreathed in the soul of man,
that these powers have to yield. The English poet Young has expressed this
thought in the following bold language:
"As long as Jehovah reigns we are strong,
We by devotion borrow from His throne,
And almost make omnipotence our own;
We force the gates of heaven by fervent prayer,
And call forth triumph out of man's despair."
There are three things which receive a new impetus in the great spiritual
awakenings which sweep the life of the Church from time to time: Preaching,
singing, and praying. These three forces for the world's salvation go together.
There is never the one without the other, for they are the result of the same
abiding Spirit. After Pentecost these are the abiding forces of the Church. In
the early chapters of Acts prayer has a large place. It was praying and not
preaching that brought the Spirit to the disciples. We have seen that
preaching of the truth has a place in the preparation for the descent of the
Holy Spirit, but "these all continued with one accord in prayer and
supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His
brethren." In the choosing of Matthias the record is that "they prayed, and
said, Thou, Lord, which knoweth the hearts of all men, shew whether of these
two Thou hast chosen." After Pentecost "they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in
prayers." Peter and John were going up to the temple "at the hour of prayer,"
and without doubt in the spirit of prayer, when the lame man was healed.

When Peter and John "reported all that the chief priests and elders had said
to them," "they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord,
Thou art God, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that in
them is: . . . and now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto Thy
servants that with all boldness they may speak Thy word by stretching forth
Thine hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of
Thy Holy Child Jesus. And when they had prayed the place was shaken where
they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spake the word of God with boldness." Apostolic praying was
mighty in its results and far-reaching in its influence. It had power to shake
the foundations of the throne of wickedness: it emboldened the disciples to
preach the Word in the face of a bold ecclesiasticism; it made things shake
that could be shaken, that the things that could not be shaken might remain,
and it brought fire from the skies to the confusion of the enemies of the
gospel. The Spirit brought great prayer life to the early disciples, and He is
the Author of all true prayer in the life of the Church throughout all ages.
There can be no real prayer without His in-dwelling and infilling. There was
great praying in Old Testament times, but one feels when reading the New
Testament record that prayer after the Holy Spirit came in His personality to
abide in the hearts of His disciples is a new thing. In connection with the
coming of the Spirit as the "promise of the Father," Christ puts a new and
larger content into prayer. All prayer has value, but the greatest value in
prayer is when it is uttered in the Spirit and by the Spirit "according to the
will of God." The Scriptures tell us "that we know not what we should pray
for as we ought," but He that "searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind
of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God."
Speaking of the Spirit's coming, He said: "And in that day ye shall ask Me
nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in

My name, He will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My name:

ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full." In that day of the Spirit's
indwelling the Church received a new prayer life. Prayer to be answered must
be prayer offered in the Spirit according to the will of God.
If prayer is not answered it is because "we ask amiss, to consume it upon
our lusts." The prayer of the "double-minded man" can not be answered
because it is not according to the will of God. The prayers of the unsanctified
are defeated by the "spirit that lusteth to envy." It is only to the Spirit-filled
man that the promise comes, "Ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be given
unto you." And the reason for this is apparent. The Spirit-filled man prays in
the Spirit and the prayer is according to the will of God. The Spirit-indited
prayer will not have in it the clause "if it be according to Thy will," because
if the prayer is born of the Spirit it will be according to His will. Christ's
language concerning prayer is very positive. It is "ask and ye shall receive."
The condition of such prayer is in the Spirit's abiding.
It is well to look into this thought a little further, and see that effectual
prayer is the result of implicit faith in Christ, but this faith is the result of the
abiding Spirit. "At that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in
Me: and I in you." Christ said: "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto
My Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the
Father may be glorified in the Son." Faith must be in our praying, for he that
asketh anything of God must "ask in faith, nothing wavering."
Another condition Christ lays down for answered prayer is abiding in Him.
If we have broken fellowship with the Son our praying is useless. It becomes
a mere jargon of words and senseless mutterings if we do not pray in the
Spirit, and we can not pray in the Spirit if Christ is not abiding in the heart,

for we can not have the Spirit without the Son. "If ye abide in Me, and My
words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
And once more. We must be in divine order if we are to expect answer to
our prayers. And the spiritual man is in divine order, for He has promised to
"lead into all truth" and the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. In this
connection Christ speaks, "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you,
and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit
should remain: and whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My name, He
may give it you." If we feel at times that our prayers are not being heard in
heaven, let us stop and seriously consider these conditions, and seek to know
the mind of the Spirit in our praying. Let us wait in spiritual communion until
we feel the Spirit's yearnings within us. A young friend wrote to me in my
early Christian life and said, "When you go into the presence of God to pray,
wait until you get the ear of God before you begin talking to Him." He meant
by that remark, wait until you are calm in your soul, and the noise and rattle
of the world has hushed about you. Then, let us wait in adorable silence
before the throne of God until the Spirit moves in our heart and indites the
prayer which is according to the will of God.

The Spirit In Unity.

"Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the

bond of peace."
"Give us the living Spirit of God, and we shall be one.
Once on this earth was exhibited, as it were, a specimen of
perfect anticipation of such an unity, when the 'mighty
rushing wind' of Pentecost came down in tongues of fire
and sat on every man." F.W. ROBERTSON.

THE SPIRIT IN UNITY.

"ENDEAVORING to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." This
theme may seem at first irrelevant to the subject of redemption, but when we
consider the words of Christ, "That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art
in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may
believe that Thou hast sent Me," we see the vital connection. The world's
redemption depends so much on the unity of the Christian Church. What
great havoc has been wrought in the Christian ages by the many schisms
which have rent the Church in twain! What a cause for blatant infidelity is
found in the warring sects of Christendom! Is the cause for such divisions to
be found in the Christian religion itself, or is there a unifying principle to
bind Christian hearts together and make them one?
There is an attempt being made these days to unite the different bodies of
the Christian Church, and many federations are being formed. Certainly there
is reason to be thankful for what is being done in this direction, for there is
at least an economic value in such federations, but this is not the "unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace" which the apostle calls for. True Christian
doctrine is liable to suffer by such federations and the Church become a mere
social institution without power to regenerate the world. Unity must not be
at the expense of the truth. When the Church has turned from the path of
truth, then separation and not unity is the call of the Spirit. The unity must be
formed in the Spirit, and that means in and about the doctrines of the Spirit.
Christian unity can not be formed where essentials of the Christian faith are
denied. So the breaking down of denominational barriers may not argue good
for the cause of the Christian religion, but may be the foreboding of a great
evil. It may argue the secularization of the Christian Church. These deletions

of doctrinal differences may mean a lowering of the standards of Christ and

the uniting of the Church on mere humanitarian grounds, and not on Christian
grounds at all. These modern worldly attempts to unite the Church by an
elimination of the objectional features of Christianity are likely to result in
the setting up of the Antichrist's kingdom. Gnosticism and Neo-Platonism of
the early Church tried this and failed, as all such attempts must fail.
Antagonisms can not find a common ground of unity. Roman Catholicism
and Protestantism has no ground of unity. Nor can we expect perfect oneness
of ideas to be the ground of unity. There must be difference if there is to be
unity. Things that are exactly alike do not unite, but form a mass. So
Christian unity is not sameness, but manifoldness in spiritual oneness.
Christian unity is blended variety. The personalities of the Trinity differ, but
they are one in substance, purpose, and aim. So Christ prayed that the
disciples might be one "Father as We are one." It is noticeable that Christian
sects who try to unite around some common ideas soon break into fragments
and find cause for disintegration in the very oneness they have formed.
Paul's doctrine of the body of the Church shows clearly that unity does not
lie in sameness, but in the diversity of the different parts of the body, and that
the ground of unity is in the dependence of the different members upon each
other. "Shall the hand say to the foot, I have no need of thee?" "For the body
is not one member, but many." "That there should be no schism in the body,
but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether
one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be
honored, all the members rejoice with it." "Wherein consists the unity of the
body? Consists it not in thisthat there is one life uniting, making all the
separate members one? Take away the life, and the members fall to pieces:
they are no longer one; decomposition begins, and every element separates,
no longer having any principle of cohesion or union with the rest."
(Robertson.) Brethren, we can never be just like each other; our education,

our early training, our different mental make-up, our diversity of talents, our
different growths in grace make this impossible, but we can be united in the
Spirit of God. Nothing can unite us, and nothing can keep the unity, but the
abiding Spirit of God.
We have but to read the many exhortations to preserve this unity to see
how difficult a matter it is. Christ said, "the world will love its own," "but a
new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another." How strange
that sounds! Christ had to give a new commandment to get the Christians to
love each other. There are reasons for our divisions, and they lie partly in the
Christian religion itself. The Spirit of God coming to the heart brings out our
individualities. He intensifies our personality, and this tends to individualize
us. The Christian religion is intolerant and it tends to make its adherents
intolerant. Its first law is separation from the world, and after such separation
it is hard for the soul to find its place in the body of Christ. It is not until the
soul is born of a holy freedom that it can fellowship with those who differ in
non-essentials. Religious scruples are usually the cause of schisms in the
body of Christ. To be loyal to God we must break with our brother, for at
times there seems no other alternative. It does not occur to the soul that
perhaps more of the "love that suffereth long and is kind" might prevent the
division.
Carnality is at the bottom of most of our strife. "For ye are yet carnal: for
whereas there is among you envying, strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal,
and walk as men?" Envying one another is a cause of our strife. Christ said,
"But be not ye called Rabbi; for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye
are brethren." If "one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it,"
for all are yours: whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life,
or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, and ye are
Christ's, and Christ is God's."

"Let us endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" by
having a higher appreciation of each other. Let us "thank God for the
brethren." We can not be perfect without each other. No man can attain to the
highest ideal in Christian thought without his brother. The Old Testament
saints could not receive the promise without us, "God having provided some
better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect." When
the souls cry from beneath the altar, "How long, Lord, how long?" the answer
is, "Wait until thy brethren have been slain with the sword." Paul gave thanks
for the brethren. He even had cause to thank God for the imperfect Corinthian
Church, for he says, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of
God which is given you by Jesus Christ." When Paul was on his way to Rome
the brethren came out to meet him, "and Paul took courage, and thanked
God." We ought not be a trial to each other, but we ought to be a comfort.
Paul was "comforted by the coming of Titus." It was said of the early
Christians by their enemies, "See how these Christians love one another!"
There were just as many reasons for division then as there are now, but they
were bound together by a common sympathy in a common sorrow.
Then let us endeavor to "keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace"
by allowing difference of opinion in matters non-essential. "Let us therefore
follow after peace, and things wherewith one may edify another." Let us not
judge one another in things that are the non-essentials of our faith. "Let no
man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or
of the new moon, or of the sabbath days." There is room for charity in these
things, and the unity of the Spirit is broken when we become censorious in
our judging of one another. "Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not
to doubtful disputations. For one believeth that he may eat all things; another,
who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not;
and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth; for God hath received
him." Let us not take advantage of this liberty and pass into license. Paul is

the last man to do this, but let us learn to treat each other charitably, and
when our brother is "overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such
a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself lest ye also be tempted."
"All things are lawful to me, but all things are not expedient." We can keep
the unity of the Spirit by this law of expediency. There are some things we
can do with perfect Christian consistency, but for the sake of the weak
brother we deny ourselves in order to keep the unity of the Spirit. We must
watch, however, that even in the law of expediency not to bring our souls into
bondage to the religious scruples of our weaker brother. We must preserve
Christian liberty. We must be careful not to lay a stumbling block in our
brother's way. We can afford to forgo some innocent pleasures in order not
to offend our weaker brother, "for whom Christ died." This is Paul's doctrine
of Christian expediency, and it is a noble one, and if carefully followed will
do much to preserve the unity of the Spirit among Christians.
We must keep in mind in our discussion that it is the unity of the Spirit we
are talking about, for there is no unity of ideas possible. Only the Spirit can
make us like-minded. "Now the God of patience and consolation grant you
to be like-minded one toward another, according to Jesus Christ: that ye may
with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ."
What an example we have in the early Church of the unifying power of the
Holy Spirit. When they were "gathered all of one accord in one place," and
the "mighty rushing wind" "filled the house where they were sitting," what
a divine unity He brought to their hearts! "And all that believed were
together, and had all things common." Among these early disciples were great
differences of nationality as well as great religious differences. We must not
think because they were all Jews that they were all agreed. There were six
hundred synagogues in Jerusalem at this time. There were many sects among

the Jews: the Pharisees, and Sadducees, and Essenes, and Herodians, and
doubtless among the three thousand some of all parties might have been
found; but the Spirit burned away these superficial barriers, and melted their
hearts into a brotherly oneness. When the Spirit comes He will do so again,
and He will come again.
Let us now look at some of the results of the unity of the Spirit.
And first a larger life for all. I have already said that we can not reach the
largest life without the uplifting of our brother, but we can afford to repeat it
because it is so essential. In this unity of life there is a blessing for the
individual that could not be obtained alone: a larger life to the individual
which comes through the larger life of the whole. There is a quickening
power in such outpourings that can not be experienced by the individual
alone. There is a larger vision which comes through the aggregate experience.
There is a syncronizing of the hearts which brings God near as nothing else
can bring Him near, for "Where two or three are gathered together in My
name there I am in the midst of them, and that to bless." There are Christian
graces that can not be received except in communion with the saints. "No
man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself." Paul says, "Fulfill
ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind." And in another place he says, "Ye are my joy and rejoicing."
To return to the figure of the body, it will be seen that if my hand suffers my
whole body suffers, and that there can not be full health until every member
is well. This is perhaps the Scriptural reason for the "assembling of
yourselves together." Robertson uses an illustration at this point which is
worth repeating. Speaking of the outpouring of the Spirit, he likens it unto a
mighty tropical river coming to the Northern Hemisphere. He says: "Just as
if the temperature of this Northern Hemisphere were raised suddenly, and a
mighty tropical river were to pour its fertilizing inundation over the country,

the result would be the impartation of a vigorous and gigantic growth to the
vegetation already in existence, and at the same time the development of life
in seeds and germs which had long lain latent in the soil, incapable of
vegetation in the unkindly climate of its birth. Exactly in the same way, the
flood of a divine life, poured suddenly into the souls of men, enlarged and
ennobled qualities which had been used already, and at the same time
developed powers which never could have become apparent in the cold, low
temperature of natural life."
Christian unity will convince the world that the religion of Christ is the
true religion. "That they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe
that Thou hast sent Me." Again Jesus said, "By this shall men know that ye
are My disciples, when ye have love one for another." What a sad spectacle
it is to see Christians divided while the world goes on in its unbelief. Christ
says, "If ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed
one of another." This is just what happens when the Church is divided.
Instead of convincing the world, the Church itself is destroyed. But when the
Church is united in the bond of peace then the convincing power of the Holy
Spirit is in the midst, and sinners are converted unto Christ.
But there is one more result of Christian unity, and that is the presence of
God with the Church. "Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live
in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you." There is a
wonderful presence of God among a united people. And this presence means
peace in the hearts of God's people.
In consideration of these things how earnestly we ought to "endeavor to
keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace!" How willing we ought to
bear with each other's faults and shortcomings! How careful we ought to be
to walk humbly before our God, and avoid doing anything "through strife or

vainglory, and esteem each other better than ourselves" that we may have the
"mind of Christ!" In these days of many sects, how we ought to pray that God
would keep us from dividing the body of Christ, and thus bringing more
schism into the divided Church. Let us seek the
"tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love."
"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as
brethren, be pitiful, be courteous."

The Spirit In Preaching.

"My speech and my preaching was not with

enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration
of the Spirit and of power."

"This, ye ministers of God, is your high

commissionhigh, because it holds immortalities within it;
high, because your fidelity to this commission will enrich
the heavens; high, because recreancy to your trust will
augment the woes of eternity."

THE SPIRIT IN PREACHING.

CHRISTIAN preaching is a divine institution. The Hebrew prophets warned,
rebuked, and at times thundered in the ears of a profligate nation the words
of Jehovah; they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, but they were
not in the Christian sense of the term, preachers. Preaching was not an
integral part of Judaism as it is of the Christian system. It was an exigence
and not a calling. The mission of the prophet was not to deliver a message of
salvation, but to warn and rebuke the people when they departed from the
Mosaic law. The Christian ministry is a permanent institution, and one
essential to the plan of redemption. Judaism, as a system, did not depend on
preaching, but the Christian religion perishes without it, for "How shall they
hear except a preacher be sent?" "For after that in the wisdom of God the
world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe."
John ushered in the kingdom by "crying in the wilderness," and the Spirit
anointed Jesus "to preach deliverance to the captives," and "the acceptable
year of the Lord." Christ sent the disciples to preach, saying, "As ye go
preach, saying the kingdom of God is at hand," but it was not until the Holy
Spirit carne at Pentecost that the real era of preaching began. After Pentecost
the apostles gave themselves "continually to prayer and the word," and when
the gospel is to be preached to the Gentile nations Paul is chosen, "a minister
and witness."
The Christian religion can not succeed without impassioned preaching
inspired by the Holy Ghost. When the Christian Church was awakened out
of its long night of Mediaeval Catholicism it was by evangels of the gospel,

who put the gospel trumpet to their lips and uttered no uncertain sound. What
mighty preachers some of these men were! Think of Peter at Pentecost
preaching Christ in the world's greatest temple of religion; of John of
Antioch, better known as Chrysostom, pouring forth streams of sacred
eloquence in the great cathedral at Constantinople; of Ambrose at Milan,
convincing by his Christian appeals the haughty mind of Augustine of the
superiority of the Christian religion; of Tertullian and Cyprian at Carthage,
denouncing the sins of a profligate age; of Savonarola in the Duomo at
Florence, pouring forth his prophetic eloquence to the thousands of breathless
listeners, who wait to do his bidding; of Luther at Worms, by a few pregnant
sentences shaking the Vatican's power from Rome to the farthest convent in
Germany; of Wesley, the Oxford scholar, preaching to thousands at
Smithfields, and preaching forty thousand sermons during a ministry of more
than fifty years; of Bourdaloue, who, at the age of twenty-five, rebuked the
haughty Louis of France to his face; of Chalmers, Spurgeon, Edwards,
Finney, and a host of others, whose ministry has been just as true but whose
talents have not been as great.
What a potent force this Christian preaching has been in the history of the
world! What tyrants have been made to tremble on the throne of their lustful
power, from Herod to Mary Queen of Scots! What ungodly systems have
been thrown to the ground by these mighty ministers of the truth, and what
freedoms the world owes to the Christian ministry!
The Holy Spirit is the Author of all inspired speech, and true Christian
preaching is inspired utterance of inspired thought. "Holy men of old spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Jesus Himself was anointed by the
Spirit to preach the "acceptable year of the Lord," and Paul says, "My speech
and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power."

As preaching is a divine institution, the minister must be divinely called

into the ministry. The Christian ministry is a divine calling and not a
profession. Christ called Paul into His service with the words, "Arise, and
stand upon thy feet, for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make
thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and
of those things in the which I will appear unto thee," and again before starting
out upon his world mission Paul is separated unto his work by the Holy
Ghost. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to call men into the ministry, and it is
the prerogative of the Church to confirm that call. There are too many men
in the pulpits to-day who have not been divinely called, and it is a serious
thing for the man, and a far more serious thing for the Church, to have men
in the pulpit who have not received their commission from Christ. The reason
for so much false teaching today is because so many have chosen the ministry
as a profession, and treat it as such. The true ambassador delivers his message
as it was delivered to him, and does not attempt to change it to suit the people
to whom he is sent. The Spirit-filled messenger does not tamper with the
message, but delivers it in the fear of God. The Church of Christ can never
flourish until men sent of God stand in the pulpits and fearlessly deliver the
message God has given. Nor is it enough that a man be so-called orthodox in
his preaching. Cold dogmatics and lifeless orthodoxy have no saving power.
It is not enough that we be true to the doctrines of the Church. The age needs
men who are filled with the unction of the Holy Spirit; men whose lips have
been touched with "a coal from off God's altar;" prophets of "fiery speech,"
whose words fall like a hammer upon the hardened hearts of men, and whose
words make men tremble in their sin. "For the kingdom of God is not in word
only, but in power." Christ said, "My words are spirit, and they are life." Paul
says, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and
in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance."

It is only those who have been divinely called into the ministry who will
be able to endure the trials and hardships incident to the ministry.
Without a Spirit-called and Spirit-filled ministry the Church is bound to
apostatize and sink into infidelity, or at least into a cold and lifeless
orthodoxy and formalism.
At the close of the apostolic age preaching entered a period of decadence,
and was not revived until the fourth century under the preaching of
Chrysostom, Augustine, and others. "Then it falls into a long night of
obscurity and weakness," until it was revived in the thirteenth century by the
preachers of the Crusades. Modern preaching had its birth during the
Reformation under Luther, but not since the apostles preached "with the Holy
Ghost sent down from heaven" has such mighty preaching been witnessed as
during the revival under the Wesleys. During the eighteenth century the Holy
Spirit called a large host of men from every walk of life, and anointed their
lips with fiery speech and spiritual utterance. The great need of the Church
to-day is a revival among the clergy, or if this is impossible, a divine call to
the laymen of the Church to receive the anointing of God to carry the
message of salvation to the perishing multitudes. The Church needs a fiery
baptism on its young Isaiahs and Jeremiahs. We need more heavenly
utterance and less human eloquence. The world is waiting to hear the "words
of Jehovah," and the "thus saith the Lord." The fiery prophets are all too few.
It will take mighty menmen of high intelligence, if not of great learning;
men of common sense, whose souls have seen the Lord high and lifted up,
and whose tongue is "as the pen of a ready writer." Let us pray and believe
that the Spirit will raise up such men by the hundreds to meet the growing
and devastating skepticism of the Church; to rebuke the cold formalism of the
pulpit, and put to blush the hireling ministry of this commercial age.

Let us turn now to some of the chief characteristics of Holy Ghost

preaching, as manifested in all the ages of the Church.
And first it is emotional and passionate. "Men of old spake as they were
moved by the Holy Ghost." Spiritual preaching is not mere intellectualities
delivered in a fine rhetorical style without life and animation. It is fiery
utterance. It is thought liquid with emotion. Words flow like a lava stream
from a volcanic center of life. It is the divine voice incarnate in human
speech. It is in "demonstration of the Spirit and power," and not with
"enticing words of man's wisdom." It is the divine earnestness speaking
through abandoned souls and anointed lips of men and women who have
been called into the ministry of Jesus Christ.
There must be "divine eloquence" or "fiery eloquence," if the preacher is
to move the hearts and wills of men. Jeremiah says, "While I mused the fire
burned in my bones." It is written of Christ, "The zeal of Thine house hath
eaten me up," and "Never man spake as this Man." Language must be
vehement, and there must be a fiery passion in the soul of the preacher who
delivers the message of a full salvation to a dying world. "To me," says
Longfellow, "a sermon is no sermon in which I can not hear the heart beat."
It was such preaching that made Felix tremble before Paul; it was such
preaching that almost persuaded an Agrippa to become a Christian; it was
such preaching that made the Queen Eudoxia plot the downfall of the
Golden-mouthed John of Antioch; it was such preaching that made
Theodosius tremble before Ambrose, the intrepid churchman; it was such
preaching that brought the wicked city of Florence to the Duomo to hang in
breathless silence on the burning words falling from the lips of the dauntless
Savonarola, and it was such preaching that rescued the Bible from the Pope,
and gave the Reformation to the world; that saved England from a bloody
revolution, and rescued this country from the blatant infidelities of Tom

Paine. It will take such preaching to save this country from its sinful
pleasures, and rescue it from its paralysis of doubt.
Another characteristic of spiritual preaching is that it is tender and
persuasive. Christ had stern rebukes and stinging invectives for the scribes
and Pharisees, but He also had tears for the rebellious nation. Paul said,
"Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men." Holy Ghost preaching,
upon the whole, will be persuasive. "The love of Christ constraineth us" will
be the testimony of every Spirit-filled preacher of the gospel. It "constraineth
us" because "He hath given unto us the ministry of reconciliation." "I beseech
you by the mercies of God that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Harsh and
censorious preaching is not born of the Spirit. When the Spirit-filled preacher
rebukes he does so "with all longsuffering and doctrine," for "the man of God
must not strive, but be gentle, apt to teach, and patient." There will be pathos
in the voice of the true preacher. I do not mean by pathos that sickly
sentiment which expresses itself in touching incidents and sentimental
appeals, but a pathos born of the Holy Spirit, who fills His anointed
messengers with the love of God. "And seeing the multitude He had
compassion upon them for they were as sheep without a shepherd." John the
Baptist had a peculiar work to do, but he is not the true gospel type of
preacher. Christ and Paul are the true types of spiritual preaching, and they
mingle tears with their pleading, and soften their invectives with mercy. Holy
Ghost preaching should not be rancorous and acrid, but full of divine
persuasiveness which appeals to the higher nature, and melts the sin-insheathed soul of man. There is a feeling among some preachers that a man is
not preaching the gospel unless he is scolding the people, and, as I heard one
man say, "Skinning them alive, and hanging their pelts on the fence." I call
upon all God's people to rebuke such preaching. We are, I trust, all of us
willing to hear the truth, but it should be the "truth spoken in love." Many a

man thinks he is being persecuted for righteousness' sake because the people
will not listen to him, when often it is because he has insulted the intelligence
of his audience by his unmanly and unchristian presentation of the gospel.
Another characteristic of true spiritual preaching is that it is not boisterous
and profanely loud. Noise is not a sign of earnestness, nor is it an evidence
of spiritual power. Poverty of thought is often hidden behind stamping foot
and the pounding of the desk. Spiritual preaching is earnest and sincere, but
not necessarily loud. It is written of Him who spake as never man spake,
"He shall not cry, nor lift up,
Nor make His voice to be heard in the street:
Reed that is broken He breaks not off,
Wick that is fading He does not quench."
Isaiah 42:3.
The prophet here is speaking of the servant of God who has been anointed
to bring salvation to the world, and in glowing language sets forth the
tenderness and meekness of the Messiah. The prophet is thinking of the
Gentiles who have sunken into decreptitude, and are as broken reeds and
fading wicks.
The Authorized Version is unapproachable in its beauty and diction, but
fails, as the English language must always fail, to bring out the exact meaning
of the original Hebrew. The word to cry is Ssaak, which means to scream or
advertise oneself. As one has well said, "There is a difference between
excitement and earnestness, bluster and eloquence, energy and mere selfadvertisement." Cant can never take the place of true thinking, and noisy
proclamation is never a real substitute for the spiritual unction which should
rest upon the servant of God. In the above verse the prophet sets forth the

gentleness of the manner of Christ's preaching. In the presence of hypocrisy

Christ is indignant and unsparing in sharp rebuke, and He never shows mercy
at the expense of truth. He never allowed men to continue in self-deception,
if a word from Him could uncloak them. He never failed to bring sin into the
open daylight of God's judgment. He never condoned or excused willful
wrong-doing, but He always had a kind word and an encouraging look for the
weaknesses of men who were struggling against the tide of hot temptations
and the forces of the underworld. He could detect sincerity as well as
hypocrisy, and He ever stood near with the encouraging word to strengthen
the fainting heart.
"Reed that is breaking He breaks not off,
Wick that is fading He does not quench."
Wherever He saw the faintest desire to be righteous, He stood by to fan the
flickering flames into a holy purpose and a steadfast loyalty to truth. His hand
was always outstretched to the sinking soul that cried out, "Lord, save or I
perish!" It was His grand mission, and the mission of every true preacher of
the gospel, "to preach good tidings unto the meek, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound." He came to bear home from the thicket the torn and
bleeding lamb. He carne to the "lost sheep of Israel."
Another characteristic of true preaching is that it is Christo-centric. Christ
is the great theme. The Holy Spirit came not to bear witness of Himself, but
to bear witness to the work of Christ finished on Calvary. "He shall take of
the things of mine and show them unto you." Preaching Christ does not mean
preaching about Christ, but preaching the truths Christ taught when on earth,
and the truths the Holy Spirit brought to His waiting disciples. The Spiritfilled preacher will preach "Christ and Him crucified," and not the many so-

called philosophies of the world. The esprit de corps asks for teachers having
itching ears, but the spiritual preacher will not, because he can not, yield to
this popular demand for entertaining lectures on science and literature in
place of the "gospel of Christ which is the power of God unto salvation." It
is easy to see that a preacher is not filled with the Spirit when he fails to
preach Christ. I knew of a young girl who, after listening to a preacher at a
camp-meeting, went up at the close of the preaching and said, "I am sorry you
do not know Jesus Christ, for you did not mention Him once in your sermon."
What a stinging rebuke, and yet how well deserved it was, for certainly the
sermon should have Christ in it somewhere! Jesus Christ is the center of the
gospel; His personality fills the gospel message, and no man is commissioned
of God to preach in any other Name.
Another characteristic of the spiritual preaching is that it is constructive
and edifying. "He gave some apostles, some prophets, some pastors, some
teachers, for the perfecting of the saints; for the building up of the body of
Christ till we all come unto the full grown man, unto the measure of the
stature of Christ."
There are times when the preacher must search out hypocrisy; stir up the
indifferent hearts of men, and uncloak those who are hiding behind a "refuge
of lies," and point out to those who are building on the sands of a shallow
experience that the storms are coming to test their foundations; but in the
main it is the preacher's business to build up the "saints upon their most holy
faith." A preacher can by injudicious preaching, and, I hesitate to say it,
because he can not move any one and he must have a show of success, preach
a soul into doubting the work of grace God has done in his heart. The apostles
urged the people to hold fast their confidence, and to "stand fast in the Lord."

It is a mistake to say that "if a soul is fully saved you can not preach away
their experience." You can rob them of their faith by unscriptural standards
and unholy tests of faith. You can pull up the tender plant and cast it upon the
burning sands of doubt to wither and die. God says, "I have nourished and
brought up children." Let us be done with charlatanism and preach in the
power of the Spirit, and God will honor His word in the salvation of souls
and sanctification of believers. F. W. Robertson says, "We are forever trying
to wring the confession from men that we are right and they are wrong." It is
not good for the preacher to assume too much superiority of saint-ship. The
saints are not sheep to be mauled and beaten at the will of the shepherd. A
true shepherd leadeth the sheep into "green pastures, and beside quiet
waters." Paul's motto is, "Not that we would have dominion over your faith,
but be helpers of your joy." The preacher's work is to nourish and build up the
saints. It is the preacher's work to comfort the soul of the tempted; to stand
by the convicted soul and point to Calvary's cross; to stand by the sorrowing
heart and point it to the consolation in Christ. "When work grows hard, the
combative instincts waken within us till we look upon the character God has
given us to mold as enemies to be always probing for the weak spots in the
saints' character." The great apostle says, "Who is weak and I am not weak?"
There are times when the strongest saint needs comfort and encouragement,
and it is folly for the preacher or evangelist to think that because a cloud has
come into the sky that the soul has set in apostasy. We are sent forth to
shepherd God's flock in the wilderness, and if there was ever a time when the
Church of Christ needed comfort and strength it is to-day. "Comfort ye,
comfort ye My people." The Church is being assailed from every quarter.
"Doubt is contagious." Black doubt is everywhere. The truths of the Scripture
are being denied within the Church, and skepticism stalks unchallenged
through the world. Let us remember as preachers that the people come up
from the workshop where the atmosphere reeks with the malaria of doubt;
where the fogs rise like miasmas from the underworld laden with poison.

They come up from homes where religion is mocked and Christ is ridiculed,
and oftentimes from churches where the preacher scoffs at holiness of life.
They come up from these places "faint yet pursuing." An encouraging word
will lift them up and scatter the clouds, but let an unscriptural test be put, or
an unscriptural standard be lifted up, and conscientious souls will think the
cause of the cloud is within themselves, and will go to doubting their
Christian experience. The sick soul needs nursing and not testing. None of us
want to be put to the test when we are so sick that we can not lift the head. Do
not undertake an operation on the soul any more than on the body until you
understand the nature of the disease. In my judgment the lifting of an untrue
standard, confusing "carnality" with humanity, is responsible for the "old
timers" at our altars of prayer, and for much of the Christian's uncertainty in
Christian experience. Let us not be self-constituted inquisitorial agents of the
devil to go around and test the fidelity of the saints. Brethren, whenever you
see hypocrisy, rebuke it; whenever you see men resting upon false hopes,
warn them; but when you see a child of God laboring under strong temptation
comfort him, and when you see a babe in Christ struggling with the world
lead him gently to that grace wherein we are able to stand, and to that fullness
of love and faith which overcomes the world.
The end of apostolic preaching is to bring men to perfection. "Whom we
preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom: that we
may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus; whereunto I also labor,
striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." The
Spirit-filled preacher will preach a full gospel. He has a higher commission
than to make men a little better. He is not a reformer. The aim of his message
is to present every man perfect. Entire sanctification is the burden of his
preaching. I do not mean, brethren, that you are to preach a doctrinal sermon
on entire sanctification every time you preach, but that your preaching must
have this end in view, and must not stop short of leading your people into an

experience of true holiness. You have failed utterly if you do stop short of
this. "We must preach, not to make fiery partisans, and to swell the number
of a sect; not to overwhelm the mind with fear, or to heat it with feverish
rapture; not to force men to the decencies of life, to a superficial goodness,
which will secure the admiration of mankind. All these effects fall infinitely
short of the great end of the ministry. We should preach that we may make
men perfect Christians; perfect in heart and in life, in solitude and in society,
in the great and in the common concerns of life. Here is the purpose of
Christian preaching. In this, as in a common center, all the truths of the
gospel meet; to this they all conspire; and no doctrine has an influence on
salvation any farther than it is an aid and excitement to the perfecting of our
nature." I know of no doctrine of the Scripture that does not in some near or
remote way relate to the perfection of man. The Bible was not written to set
forth primarily doctrines concerning God, but to show the possibilities of
grace in the human heart. The Bible is anthropological rather than
theological. Spiritual preaching will be versatile, and not limited to a
dogmatic statement of any one or more doctrines of the Bible. It will deal
relatively with all the great evangelical truths, dealing out milk to the babes
and strong meat to those who are spiritually minded enough to bear it.
Brethren, let us not forget our high calling. If we preach with power, we
must give ourselves wholly to the work of preaching. We can not be land
agents and book agents, if we are going to be preachers. I subjoin a few rules
to help us in attaining that passion of preaching that will make our words
effective. We must not leave it all to an ecstasy of feeling and to the
enthusiasm of the moment. We must have a realization of the importance of
preaching. We must keep in mind that "we are ambassadors for Christ," and
that we plead with men in His stead. "It is no light thing to speak before men
in the place of God." Let us cry out with the earnest preacher who said, "Send
me not up thence except thou goest with me."

Your preparation must be thorough. You must wait until your theme has
seized your own heart and your soul has felt the force of the truth you are
going to preach. Dr. Upham used to say to us in class, "Prepare for Sundays,
and not for Sunday."
Study the great themes of the Bible: such as Christ, His atonement,
resurrection, faith, justification, sanctification, and the other great doctrines
of the Bible.
Come from your knees to the pulpit. Come before your people with the
dews of Olivet still on your brow, the thunders of Sinai still in your ears, and
the melting love of Calvary still in your heart. Come from the mount of
communion with the shine of God on your face, and with enough humility in
your heart "to wist not that it shines." Let preaching be your one business. Let
others serve tables, but if you become a preacher of power you must make it
your vocation and your avocation both. When I was asked to buy lots for
future Methodism I answered, "I am not a real estate agent: my business is to
preach."
"It is more by the Christian fervor of his sermons than by any endowment
of his intellect that a minister must inform the understanding, catch the
affections, and bend the will of his hearers."
"Soft words, smooth prophecies, are doubtless well,
But to rebuke the age's popular crime,
We need the souls of fire, the hearts of that old time."

The Sins Against the Spirit.

"Quench not the Spirit."

"It is a singular fact that the very persons who make us

think of the word of the Scripture, 'Let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall,' are never afraid of eternal
perdition, while those who are in not the least likely to sin
against the Holy Ghost are frequently in fear and trembling
lest they fall into it." KUYPER.

THE SINS AGAINST THE SPIRIT.

THERE are several ways in which man may sin against the Holy Spirit. We
have spoken in a previous chapter of the hardening of the heart, and have
shown that such hardening may become permanent and fatal to the soul. We
wish now to call attention to the ways in which the soul may sin against the
Holy Ghost. It is well to say on the threshold of the subject that there is much
misunderstanding on this subject, and many are made groundlessly alarmed.
"It is the result of a defective religious training, and, still more, of the
preaching which, culpably ignorant of the deep ways of the soul, prates about
many things, but scarcely ever treats the solemn things that pertain to
eternity." The sin against the Holy Ghost "does not belong to the broken and
contrite heart, but cankers only in the proud spirit that opposes the Lord and
His holy ordinances."
We may vex the Holy Spirit by our rebellion and perverseness until He
turns to be our enemy. "They vexed the Holy Spirit, and He turned to be their
enemy." "My Spirit shall not always strive with man." This is the sin of
resistance. Stephen accused the Jews of this sin when he said, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy
Ghost; as your fathers did so do ye." This resisting the work of the Spirit
results in the hardening of the heart, and "doing despite to the Spirit of grace."
Let us yield quickly to the work of the Spirit lest we "fall after the same
example of unbelief."
We may "grieve the Holy Spirit whereby we are sealed unto the day of
redemption." We grieve Him by our sins. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
holiness, and is not the author of the teaching that we can not live without sin.

Wherefore Paul writes, "Put corrupt communications out of your mouth, and
lie not one to another." And put away all "bitterness, and wrath, and anger,
and clamor, and evil speaking." The Holy Spirit is grieved by uncharitable
conversation; by our criticisms of one another, and our judging one another.
The Holy Spirit is loving and kind, and when we become critical, and
faultfinding, and censorious we grieve the Holy Spirit. We grieve Him also
when we are un-forgiving and unmerciful. We also grieve the Holy Spirit by
"foolish talking and idle jesting." We are exhorted to be "sober-minded."
Wesley in his rules for a Methodist preacher says, "Be serious." Let your
motto be, "Holiness unto the Lord." "Avoid all lightness, jesting, and foolish
talking." Our work is a serious work, and we must be serious if we are going
to impress our hearers with the solemn truths of eternity. There is too much
joking and jesting in our pulpits and camp-meetings, and it is no wonder that
there is so little conviction accompanying the preaching these days. After a
congregation has been laughing at the preacher's funny stories for an hour, it
is not to be expected that they will be serious when the call is made to
repentance. Let us not be given to "foolish talking and idle jesting which are
not convenient, but to the giving of thanks." Wesley says, "There is a
particular frame and temper of soul, a sobriety of mind, without which the
Spirit of God will not concur in the purifying of our hearts. It is in our power,
through His preventing and assisting grace, to prepare this in ourselves, and
He expects we should, this being the foundation of all His after works."
We grieve the Spirit by "inconsiderateness and inadvertence to His holy
emotions within us." We must obey the Spirit's voice. We shall find His
richest blessing by obeying Him. The Spirit is not "touchy;" He is not easily
driven from the heart of the Christian, but, as Wesley so well says: "Frequent
breaches will necessarily occasion estrangement between us; and it is
impossible that our intercourse with Him can be cordial, when it is disturbed
by repeated interruptions. So a man will forgive his friend a great many

imprudences, and some willful transgressions; but to find him frequently

affronting him, all his kindness will wear off by degrees; and the warmth of
his affection, even toward him who had the greatest share of it, will die away,
as he can not but think that such a one does not any longer either desire or
deserve to maintain a friendship with him."
When we find we have grieved the Spirit let us turn humbly to Him and
seek reconciliation by confessing our fault or sin, and He will turn to us again
with consolation and comfort. Let us not malign Him by calling Him a hard
task-master, but let us remember He is the Spirit of grace, and remembers our
weakness. We shall find Him ready to forgive, and He will readily receive us
back into His favor when He finds in us "a broken and a contrite spirit."
Paul exhorts us to "Quench not the Spirit." The Spirit is spoken of as a
fire. "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire." Fire is one of the
emblems of the Holy Spirit. Tongues of fire sat on the heads of the disciples
at Pentecost as an evidence of the presence of the Spirit in their hearts. We
are warned against quenching this holy fire in our hearts. It is the great work
of the Spirit, "to lead the creature to its destiny, to cause it to develop
according to its nature, to make it perfect," and if we work against Him we
hinder this beneficent work going on in our hearts. But quenching the Spirit
has more to do with His work in the Church. How often He is quenched in
the service of the Church by our cold formality and set way of doing things!
How often He is quenched in His operations! What mighty revivals would
have swept this land if He could have had His way! But man has stepped
ahead and quenched His mighty Spirit. He is quenched by our unholy
activities and fleshly desires. Many are too fond of leadership themselves to
let the Spirit lead. We insist upon carrying out our programs as though they
were divinely arranged. We leave little and sometimes no margin for the
Spirit of prophecy in our meetings. What would the average pastor think if

in the midst of his sermon the Spirit came to a little maid, and put a message
on her heart for the congregation? Do you think there would be much of a
chance for its deliverance? And yet this is the genius of Christianity. Think
of how the Spirit is quenched in the Churches by our "divine services."
Christian testimony has almost died out of the Church, and instead of the
spiritual utterance of the early Church, the prophesying that was unto
"edifying, and exhortation, and comfort," we have Scripture timidly quoted,
and little pieces read from slips of paper. Worldly choirs are substituted for
the worship and praise of a Spirit-filled congregational singing. What a small
chance the Spirit has to "convince of sin, and of righteousness, and of a
judgment!" We murmur at his operations, and find fault with His
manifestations. We grow alarmed at His workings, and, putting our hands on
the ark to steady it, we quench the fire of devotion He is kindling in the hearts
of the saints, and leave the church barren and cold. It is considered almost
sacrilegious for a Christian to say "Amen!" out loud in church to-day,
notwithstanding we still keep on singing, "The gates of hell shall tremble at
the shout of praise," and preach about the angelic chorus around the throne
of God. How many churches there are who have so quenched the Spirit that
their worship is utterly void of His presence and, as I heard of one minister
saying, "The Holy Spirit could leave the world, and some churches would not
miss Him!" How many saints have been silenced by worldly pastors for
testifying to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in their hearts! And then this
church will have the audacity to try and "get up a revival." If we want the
presence of the Spirit we must honor and obey Him, and not quench Him.
There is a sin against the Spirit which John calls the "sin unto death." This
sin has reference to the rejection of Christ as revealed by the Spirit. This is
clearly seen by the context. "No man can call Jesus Lord save by the Holy
Ghost." It is the mission of the Spirit to reveal Christ to the Church. "He shall
glorify Me. He shall take of the things of Mine and show them unto you." To

reject Christ is the sin unto death. To the Jews who had rejected Him Christ
said, "Whither I go ye can not come," and "Ye shall die in your sins." The
Spirit is not abiding with the Churches that deny the divinity of our Lord. "He
that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." Let us
be careful how we reject the Christ, lest the Spirit leave us in darkness, and
"our house be left unto us desolate."
There is one sin against the Spirit called the "unpardonable sin." This is
the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. The danger of committing this
sin has terrorized many souls. I have found many souls who have labored
under the delusion that they have committed this sin. The insane asylums are
full of such people. It is especially the delusion of people suffering from
melancholia or neurasthenia. Kuyper says, "How many souls have not Satan
terrorized with the sin against the Holy Spirit; souls who never thought of
such a thing; who, on the contrary, had a tender regard for the Holy Spirit's
honor in the hope of their salvation, but who nevertheless he decoyed into the
fearful belief of being utterly cast away, of having committed the
unpardonable sin." Mark makes clear what this sin is. It is attributing the
divine workings of the Holy Spirit through Christ to Satan and demons. It is
calling the Holy Spirit an unclean Spirit. Mark says, "Because they said he
had a devil." Now when the soul has become so debased, the heart so
obdurate, and the mind so dark as to call God Satan, holiness sin, and love
hate, that soul is past redemption. It is given over to delusion to believe a lie.
Truth can no longer appeal when the soul is so degraded. To quote again from
Kuyper, who says, "The sin against the Holy Spirit can be committed only by
persons who, beholding the beauty and majesty of the Lord, turn the light into
darkness, and deny the highest glory of the Son of God's love to Satan and his
demons."

Injudicious preaching on this subject has driven souls to despair. Preaching

is delicate business, and we ought to be careful how we handle the Word of
life. Let it be remembered by all who have the instruction of souls that souls
who wish to honor the Spirit are in no danger of committing this sin, and
when we find souls concerned about such sin we may be sure they are not in
any danger of committing it, for the soul having committed such sin is proud,
and haughty, and indifferent about the claims of the Holy Spirit.
The sin of blasphemy against the Spirit is not the sin of final impenitence,
although the sin of final impenitence is a sin against the Spirit. Those who
have a hard and impenitent heart do "treasure up wrath against the day of
wrath and righteous judgment of God." The impenitent are sinning against the
Holy Spirit constantly, and are gradually hardening their hearts, and are in a
fair way to grieve the Spirit away from their hearts, for "My Spirit shall not
always strive with man." The love of God rejected hardens the heart, and
what was intended to melt and subdue, if rejected, withers and blasts the soul.
"The gospel is a savor of life unto life, and of death unto death." Paul says,
"If my gospel is hid it is hidden to them that are lost, in whom the god of this
world hath darkened their hearts."
Let men beware who speak lightly of God's Word and work. "He that
despiseth God's Word shall perish." To deny the inspiration of the Scriptures
is to sin against the Spirit, who is the Author of the Word. "For holy men of
old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." Let men beware who
speak contemptuously of the "blood theology," for the Son offered Himself
through the eternal Spirit to "purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God." Christ warns us against such sacrilege. Let us be careful how
we treat divine things. Let us remember that no man is beyond the influence
of the Spirit. He is working with all. He is calling to all, working with all, and
we are either yielding our hearts up to his tender and importunate pleadings

and gentle leadings to be holy and without spot before Him in love, or we are
being hardened and darkened by resisting His love, and passing gradually but
with fearful certainty on to the final doom: into that outer darkness and
despair of the soul from whom the Spirit has departed. There is only one safe
way, and that is to yield up our lives to His loving call; abandon sin, and give
ourselves into His gracious keeping to be led "into all truth," and hence into
all light and blessedness.

The Spirit's Warning Against Apostasy.

"To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your

hearts."

"Love may also be reversed. Failing to cherish, to uplift,

and to enrich, it consumes and destroys. This is a mystery
which man can not fathom." KUYPER.

THE SPIRIT'S WARNING AGAINST

APOSTASY.
"WHEREFORE, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if ye will hear His voice
harden not your hearts." The Book of Hebrews is a book of warning against
the awful sin of apostasy. It contains some terrible passages setting forth the
danger of "departing from the living God." It cries out, "How shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation?" and throughout its chapters warns against
the sin of turning from the path of righteousness. It exhorts to steadfastness,
and urges the Christian to press on to perfection, for the only safeguard
against turning back is to press forward. These exhortations are introduced
by the expression "Let us." "Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us
of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." "Let us
labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief." And, "Let us go on to perfection, for our safety is in pressing
forward in the divine life." And, again, the apostle urges us to "draw near
with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water." "Let us hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised,
and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." Then
follows the chapter of those "who through faith overcame the world, men and
women of whom the world was not worthy, who in days of great trial and
persecution "obtained a good report through faith." And because of these
examples we are urged to "lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so
easily beset us," and "run with patience the race set before us," and to this end
"let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need."

The Spirit warns against apostasy in that the "Spirit speaketh expressly that
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing
spirits, and the doctrines of devils." The Spirit is warning against this
apostasy, and if we will listen to His voice we shall not go astray, for He says,
"My sheep hear My voice and follow Me." John says, "Ye have received an
unction (the holy Chrisma, or the Spirit of Christ), and know all things, for
many Antichrists have gone out into the world," and there is a cry of "Lo here
and lo there!" and the Spirit says "Go not after them." Many of God's dear
children are being tossed about by every wind of doctrine because they do not
know the voice of the Spirit. The din of man's words is in our ears, and we do
not hear the voice of the Spirit. Christ says to the Churches, "He that hath an
ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches." The Holy Spirit will
check us if we are being led away into error, for He came into the world to
"guide into all truth."
There are certain marks of this apostasy which is spreading over the world
and Churches. And the first and most important is the denial of the divinity
of Christ, which is so common in the religions of to-day, and I fear too
common in the so-called orthodox Churches. "Every spirit that confesseth not
that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God, and this is that spirit of
Antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already
is in the world." All forms of such denial, whether they be modalistic or
dynamical, are antichristian in spirit, and are the beginnings of apostasy from
the "faith once delivered to the saints." All religions denying the equality of
the Son with the Father are apostate forms of Christianity. This may sound
intolerant, but this is the Scriptural test of the faith. "What think ye of
Christ?" is the dividing line between apostasy and faithfulness to God. The
history of the Christian Church will bear me out in this. Whenever the Church
has held lax views concerning the Sonship of Jesus it has soon passed into
atheistic denials. The Spirit warns us against the denial of the Son by

withdrawing His presence from the people who do not give Christ the preeminence in all things. Some one has said, "There is no second Christ to
atone for the rejection of the first." In Churches where the divinity of Christ
is denied, and Christ is spoken of as "mere man" or as a "creature of highest
order," there is no witnessing Spirit, and no Comforter.
There is a widespread apostasy to-day from the Christ of the Scripture, and
in His place is put a mere figment of the rationalistic mind. Much of the
religious teaching to-day is Christless. These religions claim as unreasonable
the Synoptic account of His Virgin birth, and place Christ on terms of
equality with other great religious leaders of the race. And in many of the
orthodox Churches Christ does not hold the place He has in the teaching of
the apostles. It is only the Spirit-filled man who can have a true conception
of the divine Christ. The Holy Spirit is the true Conservator of true religion.
When He is not present in the worship of the Church, when His voice is not
heeded, it is an easy matter for the Church to drift into liberal thought and
cold rationalism until it has plunged into the darkness of atheistic denials and
Christless theologies. The theological atmosphere is rife with doubt on the
great verities of religion, and only the Holy Spirit can keep the soul from
departing from the living God.
The Spirit warns against worldliness and soul lethargy as the beginnings
of apostasy. Unless we keep up a continual watchfulness the spirit of
worldliness ensheaths the soul, and lukewarmness takes the place of our first
love, and we forsake the truth, "having loved this present world." There are
thousands of people who have at one time been faithful members of the
Christian Church, who have been carried away by the love of the world, and
have made a "shipwreck of faith." When the Spirit warns, let us heed the
warning. Let us not harden the heart by refusing to obey. "See that ye refuse
not Him that speaketh."

Again, the Spirit warns against departing from the living God in the hour
of trial and persecution. He says, "Cast not away your confidence, which hath
great recompense of reward. For ye have need of patience that, after ye have
done the will of God, we might receive the promise. For yet a little while and
He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Multitudes have lost
confidence in the hour of trial. Christ knew the danger in the hour of testing,
and said to Peter, "Satan hath desired to sift thee as wheat, but I have prayed
for thee that thy faith fail not." And let us remember when passing through
great trial that He is able also "to save them to the uttermost that come unto
God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them." When the
clouds of darkness have gathered across our spiritual sky, and spiritual night
has veiled His face, and the ear of the Eternal seems deaf to our continuous
cries for help, let us cry out with Job, "Though He slay me yet will I trust
Him," or, with our Master in His night of suffering, let us with confidence in
the eternal goodness of God say, "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit." The
Spirit stands by in the night of trial to comfort us. Let us "endure as seeing
Him who is invisible."
The Spirit warns against apostasy by urging the soul to press on to
perfection. "To follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no
man shall see the Lord; looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of
God, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many
be defiled." We are told to leave "the principles of the doctrine of Christ, and
go on to perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead
works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on
of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment." How
many there are who have departed from Christ because they have remained
in the first principles of religion; because they have failed to push out into the
deep sea of God's grace, and grow in knowledge, and press on to the more
"abundant life!" How many there are who have fallen from grace because

they failed to walk in the Spirit, and be led by the Spirit into that "grace
wherein we stand," and refused to let the "law of the Spirit in Christ Jesus"
make them "free from the law of sin and death!" The Christian's only safety
is in a whole heart surrender to the will of God, and to an abandonment of the
soul to that entire sanctification whereby the soul is made perfect in love, and
filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding." We must seek the hill tops of Christian grace, or roam in the
plains and valleys of a gradually losing experience.
The Spirit warns us of the fearful consequences of apostasy. "The idea of
hardening is so awful that with all its unsanctified pity and natural religion
the human heart rejects it as a horrible thought. The Bible, nevertheless,
speaks of a permanent hardening of the heart. We are exhorted to "Take heed
lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the
living God." "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and
have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
and have tasted of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to
come, if they shall fall away, to renew them again to repentance; seeing they
crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame." There is a
permanent hardening of the heart when the soul is given over to a reprobate
mind because it is beyond feeling. There is a temporary hardening when the
soul seems cold and unfeeling. We must not suffer this condition to remain,
but hasten to the Spirit and seek His quickening power. In this condition
about all the soul can do is to groan, but as Kuyper says in his work on the
Holy Spirit, "The Lord hears that groan. There may be no prayer, and the
Holy Ghost may be too far gone to enable His soul to pour itself out in
supplication; yet so long as there is a smoking flax and a broken reed that
vainly tries to lift itself, so long as there is a sense of shame and an inward
groan to God for deliverance the Lord inclines His ear, full of compassion,

and the hour approaches when the Sun of righteousness shall dispel the
clouds and meet the hardness of his heart."
This hardening process is going on in the world. The spirit of apostasy is
upon us. The ear of man has become deaf to the call of righteousness. The
spirit of slumber is upon the Church. It is harder and harder to get the Church
to come to its privilege in Christ Jesus. Let us pray that the Spirit of God will
break up these hardened hearts and melt them with the love of God. We must
"oppose this hardening, wherever we meet it, with the leaven of the Word,
and pray without ceasing for deliverance from this spiritual plague." Let us
"Exhort one another while it is called to-day, lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin." "For the Holy Ghost saith, to-day if ye hear
His voice harden not your hearts."

The Fruit of the Spirit.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,

longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance; against such there is no law."

"They are what they are by His indwelling, and love can
celebrate its triumph only by pervading their whole
personality with his influence." KUYPER.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT.

"BUT the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law."
We are indebted to Paul for a true picture of the carnal man, but we are
also grateful to him for the picture of the truly spiritual man. In Corinthians
he describes the mature Christian in terms of the love "that suffereth long and
is kind;" that "beareth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things," in
terms of a love "that never faileth." In Colossians the Christian is made
perfect by putting on, "as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of
mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, and above
all these things love." In Philippians he urges the Christian to think on
"whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever
things are of good report." But this Christian character is the result of the
indwelling Spirit. Such a righteousness as this is not attained by the works of
the law, nor does it belong to the natural man. With Paul no goodness can
come from the flesh. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
renewing of the Holy Ghost." Such a righteousness is not attained by works,
but by faith in Christ. This is the "righteousness which is of God by faith."
How many there are who are struggling to be good in whom the flesh still
has control, and in whom the carnal mind is still enmity against God, and is
"not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be." True righteousness
can not be attained while we walk in the flesh. "God sending His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness

of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the
Spirit."
The righteousness that pleases God is through the Spirit and by faith. "For
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death." This righteousness is not attained by growth, otherwise it
would not be by faith and through the Spirit. But everywhere Paul speaks of
this righteousness as being the immediate work of the Spirit, for again in
another place, in speaking of fornicators and adulterers, he said, "And such
were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." And
even growing into the more perfect image of Christ, or the perfecting of
holiness is with Paul the work of the Spirit. "But we all with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image
from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." "This I pray," writes
Paul, "that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all
judgment; that ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be
sincere and without offense until the day of Christ; being filled with the fruits
of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of
God." And to the Ephesians he writes, "For ye were sometimes darkness, but
now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: for the fruit of the
Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth."
And this wonderful righteousness is not attained by works of the flesh,
"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh: and
these are contrary the one to the other, so that ye can not do the things that ye
would." But "We through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith."

Always with Paul the Christian is a "new creation." There is no

commendable goodness in the natural man. Nothing in him to build up a
righteous character. The "old man must be put off" and the "new man put on."
The natural man can not discern the things of the Spirit, much less attain unto
spiritual character. Paul never thinks of a man as of himself able to become
good. Whatever there is of goodness in the Christian is the fruit of the Spirit.
There is a great difference between natural goodness and the goodness born
of the Spirit. With Paul there is only one kind of good man, and that is the
saintthe man born of God's Spirit.
It is often said, "He is a good man, but he is not a Christian." A good
disposition is not a good character. There is no such a thing as a true genuine
morality apart from the morality born of and sustained by the Spirit of God.
A human moralitya morality of culture with its polished manners and
engrafted ethicsis, in the first place, without root, and therefore without
real vital life. Vital goodness must have vital life. Its root must be in God, the
eternal source of righteousness. This is brought out in the parable of the vine
and the branches. "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit He taketh away."
"He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for
without Me ye can do nothing." "If a man abide not in Me, He is cast forth as
a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire,
and they are burned." He is speaking here of character and not of works.
Moral veneer is not to be taken as a substitute for that heart purity to which
the Christian religion calls man.
Natural goodness is not permanent, but spasmodic and occasional. It has
ethical moods. You can not trust it. The natural man can be gentle, but only
under certain conditions favorable to gentleness. His benevolence does not
spring out of his heart, or, to use a Pauline expression, "bowels of mercies,"

but it springs out of his moods. Natural morality is as a flower plucked from
its root.
Another difference between natural goodness and the goodness born of the
Spirit is that the first is not full and well balanced, while the latter contains
all the virtues as a ray of light contains all the colors of the rainbow. The
natural man cultivates one trait at the expense of another. He is generous, but
cross. He is just, but not merciful. He is strictly honest, but mean. He has not
a full character. The sanctified character is not thus. It springs from one
source, and the "fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and faith."
The true Christian character is not a disposition, the result of a good
parentage, of good breeding, or well circumstanced life: it is vital union with
Christ. The Christian can not have love without temperance, nor temperance
without patience.
Paul places love at the head of these virtues because it is the sine qua non
of the Christian life. It is the "bond of perfectness" which binds the other
virtues, or gives birth to all the other graces. There are three that will abide,
but the greatest of these is love. "Love is the greatest thing in the world."
"Every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love." And "He that dwelleth in love dwelleth
in God and God in him." And this love, whence is it? Is this love in natural
man? This is the fruit of the Spirit. "We glory in our tribulations also, because
tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, and experience hope, and
hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." Christ answered the man
who came inquiring which is the greatest commandment, by saying, "Love
the Lord thy God with all thine heart." "Love is the fulfilling of the law." And
without love the other Christian graces are impossible. We shall not be
irritable and impatient when love fills the heart, for "Love suffereth long and

is kind." We shall not be envious of each other's gifts when love fills the
heart, for "Love envieth not." We shall not think more highly of ourselves
than we ought to think, for "'Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up." We
shall not be harsh in judgment, for love "beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things." An angel could not be patient
in this world without the love of God in the heart. Augustine said, in
substance, "Love God with all thine heart, and then do as you please." Such
a dictum is perfectly safe, since with love in the heart all action will be filled
with pure motive, and no wrong action can spring out of pure motive.
Against the fruit of the Spirit there is no law. Love as a ruling principle in
the heart of man keeps the law, thus annulling it. Love has broken the
bondage of the "I must" and transformed the imperative "I ought" into the
principle "I love." Love is the soul's gateway into "the glorious liberty of the
sons of God."
The fruit of the Spirit will increase and grow. We are to be perfected in
love. Perfect in its budding, it will be perfect in its flowering. It will ripen
into faultlessness some day, and be without "spot or wrinkle or any such
thing" when Christ presents the Church to His own Father, for He is to
present us faultless before His throne, "leaping for joy." The first fruits of the
Spirit planted in the soul at regeneration, the carnal mind removed at
sanctification, are capable of divine expansion throughout the eternal being
of the soul. These graces received by the Spirit are matured by the Spirit.
There is no moment of Christian development which is not dependent on the
Spirit. Being saved by faith we must live by faith. Let us not begin in the
Spirit and then expect to be "made perfect by the flesh," for then surely we
are "fallen from grace." Spiritual graces grow as do the lilies, "They toil not,
neither do they spin." Ye who can not "add one cubit to your stature," how
can you add to your spiritual character? We destroy life by vivisection, and

too much introspection is like pulling up the plant to see if it is growing, thus
retarding its growth if not destroying it. Feed the soul, look well to the
conditions of soul life, and the soul will grow into divine likeness. When
once the divine life is implanted, and Christ is "formed in us the hope of
glory," the Spirit will continue the work unto the perfect day, working in us
mightily. Growth is an unconscious process, and the soul's advance is marked
only by those tests and experiences which say to us from time to time, "You
are more like your Father." "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth
not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall appear we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is."

The Gifts of the Spirit.

"But covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet show I

unto you a more excellent way."

"It is an ambition of the most refined character, as it is

wholly spiritual; but it is merely ambition; a desire to feel,
to enjoy, to possess God and His gifts, to behold His light,
to discern spirits, to prophesy, in short, to be an
extraordinarily gifted person; for the enjoyment of
illuminations and delights leads the soul little by little
towards a secret coveting of all these things."

THE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT.

"AS THE moment of the incarnation drew near, men and women in Israel
found themselves lifted up by the Spirit into new regions of thought and
endowed with new powers of expression." But how much truer this was after
Pentecost, when the mighty Spirit of God had fully come to the hearts of the
disciples. They found themselves endowed with spiritual gifts. In the New
Testament new attributes are assigned to the Spirit, corresponding to new
gifts bestowed upon men. The Spirit of wisdom is bestowed. Wherefore it is
written, "Look ye out among ye seven men of honest report, full of the Holy
Ghost and wisdom."
Let us notice some things about these gifts of the Spirit. First, Paul would
not have the Church ignorant concerning these gifts, and exhorts the Church
to covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet he says, "I show unto you a more
excellent way." With Paul the graces of the Spirit are superior to the gifts of
the Spirit. Faith, hope, and love are greater than the gifts, because the graces
are evidences of character, while the gifts are not necessarily so. The graces
are to abide, while the gifts will pass away. The gifts are for time, the graces
are for eternity. To have the gifts without the graces is to "become as
sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." With Paul love is the "greatest thing in
the world." Then with Paul there is a distinction to be made between the gifts.
It is better to prophesy than to speak with tongues. "For greater is he that
prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues." But the same Spirit is the
Author of the "diversities of gifts," and "the manifestation of the Spirit is
given to every man to profit withal. These gifts of the Spirit are given to the
Church, and not to any one member of the body. To one is given by the Spirit
the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit."

"Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether
prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith." If the Church
would live in the power of the Holy Ghost there is no reason why these gifts
of the Spirit should not be in the Church. The Spirit coming upon the Church
would dispense these gifts to the members of the Church "according to the
grace given to us." If the baptism of the Spirit is for the Church of to-day, I
do not see why the gifts of the Spirit are not for the Church of to-day. There
are "differences of administrations, but the same Lord, and there are
diversities of operations, but it is the same God that worketh all in all." I
believe when the Holy Spirit comes to His Church He bestows these gifts, but
that in certain ages, according to the need, one gift may be given at one time
and the other gift at another, according to the need of the hour. The gift or
manifestation of the Spirit may differ according to the demand of the hour.
In the introduction of the Christian faith all the gifts were bestowed in
remarkable power, the gifts of healing and speaking with tongues being most
prominent. There are times when God must show forth His power and
vindicate His gospel with "signs and wonders," but it is wrong for the Church
to think that the gifts are the all-important thing. The holiness of life is the
greatest of the power of the Christian religion. The sanctified man is the
greatest product and the greatest evidence of the power of the gospel. Much
greater than the wonder worker. The Spirit cleansing and dwelling in the
heart of man is essential to man, but not the gifts of the Spirit. It is wrong to
say that the Spirit is not present with the Church because the giftsthat is,
those gifts which manifest themselves in the outwardare not present. "The
kingdom of God is not meat nor drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost." There is great danger in seeking the gifts of the Spirit that
we shall forget the essential elements of our religion: faith, hope, and love.
Often, as in the case of the Corinthian Church, the possession of gifts leads
to spiritual pride, yet on the other hand we should not deny the fact that the

Spirit has gifts for the Church which are to be received in humility and
thankfulness.
The first in the list is wisdom. And how much need there is of heavenly
wisdom! Human wisdom is of little or no account in the conflict with the
principalities and powers. What subtle arguments the devil has! and how
soon we fall if we "lean to our own understanding!" There is a gift of
heavenly wisdom promised to the Church, and how she has been able to
baffle her enemies in all the ages of the world. How the great and mighty of
this world have fallen before the wisdom of the little ones whom God has
anointed with His Spirit of wisdom! The wisdom of this world is foolishness
with God. "The Cyrenians, and the Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia, and
of Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom
and the Spirit by which he spake." Paul said, "My speech and my preaching
was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power." We too may have that power and wisdom, for "Christ
Jesus is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption." James says, "Let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be
perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God, that giveth liberally and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him."
Now what is this gift for? Certainly not to make us proud and haughty, but
to enable us to know the wiles of the devil and to defeat his plans. "Who is
a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a
good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter
envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This
wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For
where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the
wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without
hypocrisy." How much the Church needs this gift! More than she needs the

gift of tongues or the gift of healing, and yet how few people we find
coveting earnestly this best of all gifts. Let us earnestly seek this gift which
God will bestow liberally upon all who ask in faith.
"To another is given the word of knowledge." There is a tendency on the
part of some to decry knowledge. It would be hard to decide whether the
Church had suffered more from the over-educated, or the educated ministry
who have not the Spirit, or the ignorant ministry that for want of a better
education has given false interpretation to the Word of God. We can never
pay the debt we owe to the great scholars in the Church, and because some,
having not the Spirit, have gone astray from the word of faith and have turned
to rationalism, we must not cry down education. No Church has succeeded
with an uneducated ministry. Ignorance is not a help to piety. All the great
reformers have been educated men. The disciples were not unlettered men
only in the sense that they were not educated in the rabbinical schools. They
understood the Greek and Hebrew and spoke the Aramaic. They knew the
prophets and the history of the nations of antiquity. They sat at the feet of the
Great Master for three years, learning from His public ministry and having
the benefit of His private instructions. They must have been well trained men
before the Spirit came upon them. Wesley, who called many of the
uneducated class into his itinerancy, told his preachers that if they had no
taste for reading to get out of the ministry. Paul tells Timothy to give
attention to reading and to doctrine. The Church owes a debt it can never pay
to the great apologists of the second century, such as Justin Martyr and
Origen, for their noble defense of the gospel when such men as Celsus and
Lucian were denying the faith. The Reformation owes much to such scholars
as Melanchthon, and Erasmus, and Calvin. The Wesleyan revival was carried
forward by such scholars as Wesley and Fletcher. The Spirit has always
raised up great scholars, and given to them the word of knowledge. When we
are making light of education, as is the tendency for some to do, and are

pointing to the dangers of an education and to certain men owned of God who
have not had an education, let us remember how much we owe to the scholars
of the past. Moody could not have preached if such men as Wickliffe,
Erasmus, and Tyndale had not been able to translate the Bible into the
English language. Multitudes would be unable to read the Bible, if such men
had not had the knowledge to translate them for us. I have written this note
of warning because there is a tendency among people who preach concerning
the Spirit to think that when the Holy Spirit comes we need no other teacher.
He is the Great Teacher concerning spiritual matters of the soul, but He does
not impart much useful knowledge by a direct method. He inspires and puts
a burning desire into the heart for higher things. How many are there who,
when awakened by the Spirit and led into a life of consecration, have not had
a great desire to be educated? The Holy Spirit is the Author of such desire,
and it behooves us to follow His leadings. After my conversion the first two
books I bought were the English Bible and the English Grammar. There is an
intellectual awakening. Adam Clarke was considered the greatest dunce in the
school. A visitor to the school, upon being introduced to him as the biggest
dunce, laid his hand upon his head and said, "You will be a great man some
day." Adam Clarke said he felt something snap in his head. He became the
great linguist of Methodism, and his commentaries have been the fountain of
knowledge for many generations. The Spirit would redeem us from all
ignorance, and waits to give the word of knowledge to His Church. The Holy
Spirit is not the Author of ignorance.
"To another faith by the same Spirit." We must not confuse this with
saving faith. This is a faith given by the Spirit to the Churchto the saved
ones. There have been men in all ages of the Church who have had marvelous
faith. This gift does not show its workings always in the healing of the sick
or the performing of great works, but in the clearness of vision by which the
soul sees God. Abraham had great faith, but we do not read of his performing

miracles. He believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness' sake.
Many a poor woman struggling against great odds and keeping a strong faith
in God the meanwhile has this gift of faith. Faith does not always operate in
the outward things. To maintain a quiet and abiding confidence through dark
and stormy days; to rest contented and happy in days of adversity; to hold an
unwavering trust in God when Providence is casting gloomy shadows across
your path; to be able to say with Christ when on the cross of sacrifice, and
when all is dark and mysterious about the soul, "Father, into Thy hands I
commend my spirit," this is to have a gift of faith. To say with Abraham
when the divine voice has called you to offer the child of your hopes and the
son of promise, "The Lord will provide a lamb," this is the gift of faith. To
hold steadfast an unwavering confidence in the work of Christ in an age of
gross skepticism is to have a gift of faith. The Spirit has imparted this gift to
His Church in all ages. Witness the Waldenses holding forth the Word of
Truth during the dark ages. Wickliffe, Huss, and Jerome standing for the truth
in the age when the Church was buried in dead formalism. Witness the many
who by faith have "subdued kingdoms, and wrought righteousness, and
stopped the mouths of lions." The Spirit will keep faith bright in the bosom
of the Church. After nights of doubt and skepticism the faith of the Church
shines more resplendent and pure. When rationalism was at its highest point
in Germany, and Deism was the religion of the educated in England, the Holy
Spirit poured out the light Wesleyan revival. Universal doubt is impossible.
Faith can not depart from the world as long as the Spirit is working out
redemption's plan. Let us not give way to doubt and fear; remember the Spirit
will keep alive in the heart of His Church the true faith. We sometimes speak
and act as if the enemy might destroy our religion. Let us be watchful and
contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, but let us trust to
keep the Church of Christ true, and in days of growing skepticism pour out
upon the Church the gift of faith.

"To another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit." It would be hard to say
anything that would meet the approval of all on the question of healing. There
is much being written and preached on the subject that is not Christian. There
are many theories that are a long way from being Christian, and some that in
the man are Christian and yet need modifying. "Divine healing" was never a
doctrine preached by the apostles, and, as far as the records of their preaching
go, it never had a large place in their thought. We are in danger these days of
reducing the great gospel to a mere question of healing the body, and the
great doctrines of the gospel are being lost or at least neglected in the strong
emphasis laid on healing. Christian Science and the Emmanuel Movement
are diversive of the true gospel. They put the emphasis where the Gospel does
not put it. Let us try to get the mind of the Spirit on this subject. Certainly the
body is not left out of the plan of redemption, and because it holds such an
important place there is room for the gift of healing in the Church of Christ.
The "body is the temple of the Holy Ghost." Healing had a great place in the
ministry of Jesus. "He healed all their sick." He gave power to those He sent
out to heal the sick, and the apostles exercised that power after Pentecost. But
healing the sick is not a necessary part of the gospel. There are reasons why
in the plan of God for the soul a sickness might be for the glory of God. The
Church has not shaken off the old Jewish belief that to be sick is a sign that
you are not right with God, or that you have not the faith you should have,
and many make the healing of your body the test of your salvation. The
disciples asked Jesus concerning the blind man, "Did this man sin or his
parents?" Jesus answered, "Neither, but that the works of God might be made
manifest in him." Paul left a friend sick at Miletus, and advised Timothy to
take a little wine for his stomach's sake. There is much in the gospel to
encourage us to pray for our sick, and to believe for their healing; and it is
only when we make up a lot of theories, and enter upon many fanciful
doctrines that we do harm to the gospel, and run into grievous errors which
bring a snare upon the soul and serious divisions in the Church. We are

exhorted to pray for the sick, and in one place to anoint with oil, but even a
custom of the early Church is not binding. If the Holy Spirit is allowed to
abide in the Church, He will quicken our mortal bodies by the Spirit that
dwelleth within us, and He will heal the sick among us without the Church
giving so much of its time and thought to the subject of healing. Nor must we
forget the important part the body plays in the plan of redemption, and that
it is the Spirit's intention to redeem the body from its ills, and raise it up at the
last day, "a glorious body." Let us not get in bondage over so-called divine
healings and healers, but let us give ourselves to the Holy Spirit, who is
working out our redemption for us.
"To another the working of miracles." Christianity is a miracle ever
present to the mind of man. Given Christianity, who can doubt the power of
a supernatural religion to work miracles? All that the critics have said about
the impossibility of miracles because the laws of nature are fixed and can not
be changed is absurd. A miracle does not change any law, but merely
suspends it at a point where the divine will is at work. To raise one's arm does
not change the law of gravitation, but merely suspends it by the putting forth
of the energy of the will. Men deny miracles because they deny all
supernatural phenomena. "A miracle is a divine event to attest some
messenger sent or some message given." All miracles are not of a material
nature. Here again we must seek the mind of the Spirit. It is so easy to run
after the spectacular, and to think that "divine healings" and wonders in
religion are from a divine source. We are apt to say that "no man can do such
things except God be with him." There are many strange things done in the
name of a miracle, which are not of divine origin. There is magnetism, and
hypnotism, and mental suggestion theories all claiming their thousands of
votaries, but the Church must not go after them. Nor must the Church deny
the power of God to work miracles. Nor should she rest upon them for her
faith. It was only after the Jews had refused to believe Christ's testimony of

Himself that He said, "If ye believe not Me, believe Me for My very works'
sake." There are times when unbelief is rampant, in which God may show
forth His power in miraculous workings, but miracles are not essential to the
gospel. When God works a miracle it is with a moral end in view. When He
worked the miracles by the hand of Moses it was to convince both the
Israelites and Pharaoh that He was superior to the gods of Egypt. When Christ
worked His miracles it was to aid the people to believe in His Messiahship.
But the gospel lives independent of miracles, and they can never be the
greatest proof of the divine origin of the Christian faith. Satan can work
miracles. But Satan can not change the wicked nature of man's heart, and
hence the greatest proof of the Christian faith being a religion sent from God
will be its holy characters. There are times when miracles may serve a high
purpose in the Church, but they are not to be looked upon as essential to the
true life of the Church. It is not correct to say that they passed away with the
apostolic age. Nor is it correct to say that if the Church would return to
apostolic life and faith that we would see the same miracles wrought out today. He does not lead us with the pillar of fire or pillar of cloud any more. We
must allow that the Spirit will do in one age what is not necessary to be
repeated in another. Without a doubt there was a greater need of miraculous
workings at the time of the introduction of the Christian faith than in the days
when it is the accredited religion of the world. But there may be times and
places in the world where the miraculous would be as necessary to-day as
then. In the heathen world, where idolatry has enthralled the mind, it is
reasonable to think that the Spirit would be more likely to work in a
miraculous manner than in a country like ours, where the gospel has been
rejected. Christ would not work a miracle to please the curiosity of Herod or
pander to his unbelief. Without a doubt miraculous power has been given to
the Church in all ages, and the Church itself is the greatest miracle of all.
There is a great danger in these days of teasing God to pander to the unbelief
of a degenerate people, and to feel that if we could work a few miracles then

the people would believe the gospel. This is not so. They would simply
explain them away on scientific grounds. I was riding with a skeptic not long
ago, and he said, "If God had made a revelation of Himself I should think He
would have written it on the sky so that no one could be mistaken." I said, "If
He had you would have explained it away on scientific grounds." Some men
would not believe though one rose from the dead. Let us not clamor for signs
and wonders or miracles of healing. Let the Spirit work. I believe the greatest
miracle for this age is an unselfish man, one who can throw off the
worldliness and step out into the light of purified manhood and deny worldly
lusts, and follow after righteousness. Pious living, that is the miracle that is
needed these days. In these days of wonder workers and "divine healers" and
pretentious charlatans I question if miracle working would lead many to the
acceptance of the gospel in its work of purifying the heart. There are too
many now who run after the spectacular and who are feeding their souls on
the phenomena of religion, while their souls are hungering for the Bread of
Life. We can trust the Holy Spirit to work. I am sure He is pleased when we
seek the holy life, and if He sees fit to give to the Church the working of
miracles let the Church fall down in humble gratitude and worship the Giver.
"To another prophecy." Paul says follow after love and desire spiritual
gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. It has been a mistake, held by the
Church for many years, that prophecy meant to predict the future. The
prophet's great work was not to predict the future, but to reveal the truth. The
great prophets spoke more of their own times than they did of the future.
True, they did predict things of the future, but their great work was to reveal
the spiritual things of God. "He that prophesieth speaketh unto men unto their
edification, and exhortation, and comfort." Paul says it is greater to prophesy
than to speak with tongues. He gives prophecy high rank among the gifts,
because it builds up the Church in truth. "If all prophesy, and there come in
one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged

of all." This gift penetrates the conscience, and is the Spirit speaking through
the Church, convincing of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Let us
desire earnestly that gift.
"To another discerning of spirits." When we think of the many false
Christs which have gone forth into the world, how necessary the gift of
discernment is to the Church. I shall speak of this under the anointing of the
Spirit later.
"To another divers kinds of tongues." The gift of tongues has agitated the
Church on several occasions, and in some instances has brought disaster to
the Church. The reason perhaps for this is that it is historically, more than the
other gifts, connected with the Pentecostal account, and in the Book of Acts
is mentioned as accompanying the baptism of the Spirit. It agitated the
Corinthian Church and called for the apostle's warning and gentle reproof.
Paul treats the case in the fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians. This will be
discussed later. This gift is said to have broken out in the Church of Edward
Irving in London, and it is said to have ruined his work, and Irving died a
broken-hearted man. It is agitating many people to-day. The present-day
phenomenon is difficult to understand. Many good and holy people believe
it to be a genuine gift of the Spirit, while other equally good and holy people
think it is a pseudo-gift. That some strange phenomenon has broken out
among the people is apparent. Some account for it on psychological grounds.
What I have seen of it has not convinced me that it is of divine origin. It was
first thought to be a gift of a foreign tongue, and many, believing that they
could speak the language of the heathen, went to the field only to find out that
they could not speak the language. The leaders of the movement have
changed their attitude, and now speak of it as a heavenly language given as
the evidence of the baptism of the Spirit. The error of the movement, and a
serious one, is the teaching that this gift is the only evidence of the baptism

of the Spirit. Some of the leaders are now seeing this mistake. During a
meeting the writer was holding in Oakland during the summer of 1909, one
of the leaders publicly acknowledged his error. Others did so in private. It is
true the Scriptures do teach that on several occasions when the Spirit was
poured out upon the disciples the gift of tongues followed, but nowhere do
the Scriptures teach that the gift of tongues is the only evidence of the
baptism of the Spirit. One thing that has impressed me that is strange and
unscriptural about this modern tongue movement, is that the gift seems to
come only after prolonged seeking and much anguish of mind. There is also
much censoriousness in the movement, and very little of that Christian
charity which was so characteristic of the disciples. The movement, however,
has had a good effect in calling the Church back to the recognition of the
supernatural work of the Holy Ghost, and whilst many have been led astray
let us hope that the Spirit will make the movement a blessing to the Church.
The error of the movement is in making the gift of tongues the only evidence
of the baptism of the Spirit, which is unscriptural, and in laying too much
stress on one of the minor gifts of the Spirit. It does not say that the
Samaritans received the gifts when they were baptized with the Spirit. The
fact that such a gift accompanied the outpouring of the Spirit on several
occasions is not a Scriptural ground for making it the only evidence of the
baptism of the Spirit, any more than it would be Scriptural to say that the
tongue of fire which rested on the heads of the disciples at Pentecost is the
only evidence of the Spirit's coming. Paul's treatment of this gift in the
fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is one of the most difficult of explanation.
The best I have seen is F. W. Robertson's lectures on Corinthians, and for the
benefit of those who may not be familiar with that work, and because of my
utter dependence upon that work for what I would give, I deem it best to give
a full quotation.

"I believe that the gift was a far higher one than that of the linguist. And
first for this reason, amongst others, that St. Paul prefers prophecy to the gift
of 'tongues' because of its being more useful, since prophecy edified others
and tongues did not. Now could he have said this if the gift had been the
power of speaking foreign languages? Was there no tendency to edification,
no profitableness in a gift which would have so marvelously facilitated
preaching to the nations of the world? We will proceed to gather the hints
given of the gift, and of the gift itself, which are to be found in this chapter.
We gather first that the 'tongues' were inarticulate or incoherent: in the second
verse it is said, 'No man understandeth him.' And lest you should say this is
just what would be true of foreign languages, observe that the tongues spoken
of were rather of the nature of impassioned utterance of devotional feeling,
than of preaching intended to be understood. The man spoke with tongues
'Not unto men, but unto God.' And what is this but that rapt, ecstatic
outpouring of unutterable feeling, for which language is insufficient and poor,
in which a man is not trying to make himself logically clear to men, but
pouring out his soul to God? Again, in the fourth verse: 'He that speaketh in
an unknown tongue edifieth himself.' Here we find another characteristic
point given: this gift was something internal, a kind of inspired soliloquy, or
it may be meditation uttered aloud. . . . From the thirteenth verse we learn that
it could be interpreted. And without this interpretation the tongues were
obviously useless. The gift might be a personal indulgence and luxury, but to
the world it was valueless: as in the fourteenth verse, 'My spirit prayeth, but
my understanding remaineth unfruitful.' Now, if it had been a foreign
language, it would have been simply necessary that the interpreter should be
a native of the country where the language was spoken. But here the power
of interpretation is reckoned a spiritual gift from God as much as the power
of tongues: a gift granted in answer to prayer. "Wherefore, let him that
speaketh in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.'"

Let us covet earnestly the best gifts, yet show I unto you a more excellent
way. No one is able to say how much of the present movement is real or how
much is spurious. No one will deny, who believes in the Spirit and in the
supernatural working of the Holy Ghost, that the gifts of the early Church
may be repeated any time in the life of the Church, but it is not safe to place
an undue emphasis upon a gift of minor importance and claim more for it
than a fair and candid interpretation of the Scripture would warrant. The
Spirit and not His gifts are essential to Christianity. We do not deny the
supernatural in Christianity, nor do we deny the possibility of the return to the
Church of all the gifts of the Spirit at any time when the Church is in a state
to receive and the glory of God would be advanced, but it is quite possible
that in the advent of Christianity the miraculous display of God's power was
more necessary than it is to-day. Miracles and signs are in no sense necessary
to establish the truth of the Scripture. In this scientific age everything is
explained away on phenomenal grounds, and I can not see where men would
be led to believe in Christ by the Church receiving the gifts. It is true, we do
not honor the Spirit in this age as we should, nor has He place of honor in our
worship He had in the early Church; and when we give Him a larger margin
in our worship, and honor and obey Him, He may seem pleased to bestow
such gifts as will help the Church in its present-day struggle against the
powers of darkness.
Note.For up-to-date information on Glossolalia, the reader is referred to
the book "Speaking in Tongues" by Dr. Donald S. Metz, Nazarene
Publishing House, Kansas City, Missouri.

The Spirit and the Christ.

"And lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and

He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and
lighting upon Him.

"Jesus had an earthly origin, and in that origin, as these

apostles well knew, He was differentiated from every other
by the fact that, from the first moment of His existence, He
was absolutely pure,that He was possessed of a Spirit of
holiness which overbore all temptations even to the
slightest evil, and made Him continuously and perfectly a
doer of the will of the Father." JAMES ORR.

THE SPIRIT AND THE CHRIST.

IT is not within the province of this chapter to discuss the triunity of the
Godhead, but to speak of the work of the Spirit in the filiation of the Son.
And, more than this, to show the place the Spirit had in the entire sweep of
the mystery of the Incarnation. The Spirit's work is seen in the entire
unfolding of the plan of redemption in the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus Christ. It can be said, without irreverence, that the Spirit is the Author
and Finisher of the Incarnation. The Spirit's work is seen in every important
step taken by the Redeemer of men, and He who announces the personal
advent of the Spirit, and promises to send the Comforter to the hearts of His
disciples, is Himself born into His mission, and carried through the trying
ordeals of His redemptive work, by the same Holy Spirit. Nothing is more
vital to Christianity than the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ. Christianity
at once loses its moral and spiritual force when it denies the equality of the
Son with the Father and the Spirit. And when I speak of the dependence of
the Christ upon the Spirit, I mean the Incarnate Christ. The Son is subordinate
to the Father in the mediatorial work. This is the true idea of Sonship. As
Redeemer He entered into man's limitations, and in taking on the form of
man He took on man's infirmities. He is both essential divinity and essential
humanity. There have been many theories advanced to explain this great
mystery: the Apollinarian, which says the Logos took the place of the human
soul, thus denying the rational soul in Christ; the Nestorian, which speaks of
the two distinct natures of Christ; the Monphysite, which says the two natures
were fused into one, making another nature neither human nor divine, and the
Adoptionist theory that Christ was adopted by the Father. But the Church has
ever guarded the truth of the Sonship of Christ, and the consciousness of the
Church refuses to accept anything less than the creeds of the Church have

given it. He is both very God and very Man. These two expressions of His
personality are clearly taught in the Scriptures, and at times the human is very
evident and at times there are those "inburstings" of the divine glory such as
we see at the Jordan's bank and on the cedar slopes of Mount Hermon, when
He was transfigured.
The Spirit gives birth to the Incarnate Christ. The creed of the orthodox
Church says, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord, who
was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." There is much
denial of this clause of the creed to-day, and it is looked upon by many of the
modern Church as ignorance to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus. But if any
part of the life of Jesus can be believed, certainly His birth should be. It all
rests upon Scripture, and the Scripture says, relative to His birth, not only that
He was "born of the Virgin," but that He was "conceived by the Holy Ghost."
Matthew says, "Now the birth of Jesus was on this wise: When as His mother
Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with
child of the Holy Ghost." And Luke, who said he "had perfect understanding
of all things from the first," and who gives us the most detail of the birth of
Christ, writes that the angel said to Mary, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that
holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God."
Incarnate Mystery! How man ought to humble himself in the dust before such
sacred truths! To deny the virgin birth of Jesus is to deny the Holy Ghost. So
I am right in saying that the Incarnate Lord is conceived of the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is "Author of the corporeal and material life of Jesus." We know
very little of the history of the Christ until in the fullness of His holy
manhood He stands upon the banks of the Jordan to fulfill all righteousness,
but we have little glimpses, such as the statement that "He grew in wisdom,"
and at the age of twelve confounded the doctors of law in the temple. We are
sure, however, that He lived a perfect life, and that such a life was supported

by the Holy Spirit. It is not wise to speculate as to how much consciousness

He had of His divine mission during these years that He was subject to His
parents, but it is certain that, when He stood on the Jordan's bank, and "the
heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending
like a dove and lighting upon Him: and lo, a voice from heaven saying, This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased," a larger consciousness of
both His Messiahship and mission came to Him. The Spirit did not come to
Him as a mighty rushing wind, nor as a "refining fire," but as a gentle dove,
for to One so perfect and obedient there is no resistance, there is nothing to
dispel from the heart, no inward foe to drive out, no heart to cleanse, and no
will to subdue. In this descent of the Spirit there is for Christ an induction
into the work of His Messiahship, a larger witness to His consciousness of
that Sonship which as a boy at Nazareth He had felt in a measure, and the
anointing for service spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, "He hath anointed Me
to preach the gospel to the poor." This is the only place where anointing is
spoken of as being alone for service. But this anointing comes to One who
has no need of cleansing.
We shall now trace the Spirit's work in the unfolding of the life and work
of the freshly anointed Son of God, and we are told by Luke that, "Jesus
being full of the Holy Ghost returned from the Jordan, and was led by the
Spirit into the wilderness being forty days tempted of the devil." The anointed
Messiah must now prove Himself able to succor them that are tempted, and
to do so He must meet temptation and resist it to the fullness of the power of
man's malignant enemy, the devil. This is not a farce, but a real struggle in
which the Christ is supported by the Holy Spirit. This is the crucial hour for
the Son of man and the crucial hour for the human race. This is a tragedy in
the life of Christ equaled only by the awful struggle in the Garden, and the
agonizing death on the cross. He who has been appointed of God to be the
Messiah, and He who has volunteered to redeem the race must now make the

personal choice, and enter the personal conflict. He does not become in
reality the Messiah until He has made this personal choice. How can the holy
man be tempted? Why, He is the only one that can be truly tempted.
Temptation is not sharp and real until the Holy Spirit has come and revealed
the true nature of holiness and the true nature of your mission. The cross is
not seen in its true sacrificial meaning until the Spirit has revealed it.
Whatever might have been the consciousness of Christ concerning the cross
prior to His baptism we do not know, but we do know that He begins to see
shortly afterward that He is appointed unto death, and in the Garden He
makes the personal choice over against the three times attempted effort of the
devil to turn him from the divine plan of suffering and death. He makes the
personal choice, and if I may say it the Messiah self-hood dies to the world
and lives unto God. That is, He has chosen the way of the cross and refused
the glittering offers of sin. The redemptive Messiah, is the result of the
struggle. And why are the sanctified tempted? Because God wants your
personal choice. It is one thing to choose to be holy, it is another to choose
to go to the cross. Having been made holy by the creative work of the Spirit,
we then have to choose to be holy with the shadow of the cross athwart our
path, and choose to suffer with God and for God. Temptation is necessary to
bring this personal consent into the experience. Before His baptism Jesus is
the Messiah without the full consciousness of the cross, but after the trial He
is the Messiah with that full consciousness. It is a great thing to be willing to
be holy, but how much greater it is to be holy with the full consciousness of
all one must needs suffer to be holy. There is no glory comes to God in a man
being holy unless that man is holy by his full consent. Hence the command
to Adam not to eat of the tree. Adam failed to choose to be holy over against
the alternative to be unholy. It is here where Christ conquered and won the
victory for the race. And after the temptation, "Jesus returned in the power of
the Spirit into Galilee, and there went out a fame of Him through all the
region round about."

"Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit." There is fuller consciousness

of His divine mission and a greater consciousness of strength to perform that
mission as a result of the temptation. But not only in the crises of His life is
Jesus upheld by "the power of the Spirit," but in His daily life He is upheld
and guided. He lives in the power of the Spirit. "Jesus had an earthly origin,
and in that origin, as these apostles well knew, He was differentiated from
every other by the fact that, from the first moment of His existence, He was
absolutely pure,that He was possessed of a Spirit of holiness which
overbore all temptations, even to the slightest evil, and made Him
continuously and perfectly a doer of the will of His Father." He spake by the
Spirit, "For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God
giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him." But He performed His miracles
by the Holy Spirit. He said to the Jews, "But if I cast out devils by the Spirit
of God, then the kingdom of God is unto you." So we see by these passages
that Jesus carried on His work by the "power of the Holy Ghost."
He knew also the comfort of the Holy Ghost in His trials, and it must have
been the Spirit who supported Him during those trying controversies with the
Jews; who gave Him such patience with His unbelieving disciples, and
sustained Him on the mountain slopes during those lonely nights of prayer,
And who but the Gracious Spirit of God could have carried Him through
awful Gethsemane, and brought Him, out of that death struggle so calm to
face the angry mob, the insults of the mock trial, and finally the tragic death
on Calvary? O mighty Spirit may we, too, feel Thy mighty arms underneath
in the hour of our temptations, and in the night of our torturing darkness!
We now come to the greatest hour of His life. His death is the goal. He has
foreseen this. It has been a growing consciousness with Him from the
beginning. "It behooved Him to suffer and die." From His early ministry He
knew this was to be His fate. He said, "For this cause came I unto this hour."

The Spirit had helped in the wilderness to choose the narrow way of the
cross; He had helped Him to bear witness of the Father to a degenerate
Church; had helped Him to throw off the oft repeated temptation to be
popular; had helped Him in the lonely hours of His rejection to cling closer
to the Father; had helped Him to be joyful as the shades of night gathered
about His soul; had helped Him in the awful struggle in the Garden and now
He would help Him to bear the cruel mockeries of the judgment hall, the
taunts and jeers of the thrice-blinded Jew, and would help Him carry the cross
along the weary "Via Dolorosa" and up the steep ascent of Golgotha, there to
suffer and die as the world's Redeemer. For, "How much more shall the blood
of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God,
purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" "Who
through the Eternal Spirit of feted Himself." The Spirit who had been with
Him in life is with Him in death. The sacrifice is made through the Eternal
Spirit. What a great place the Holy Spirit has in the work of redemption. Is
there any wonder that Christ pointed to His coming, and told the disciples to
tarry for His power? For He who had carried Christ through would surely be
able to carry them through; and if He had needed His presence how much
more would they need Him. Now He who assisted Christ in making the
atonement is able to apply that atonement to the souls of men, and hence we
read that "God hath chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth."
There is one more instance of the Spirit's work with Christ in redemption,
and that is in resurrection. Christ said to Pilate, "I have power to lay down My
life and power to take it up again," but the Scriptures say that He was raised
by the Spirit. For Paul says, "But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus
from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." So it is by the

Holy Spirit that Christ overcomes the grave and destroys the power of the
grave and rises victorious over death and hell.
Even after the resurrection, during those forty days when He walked
among His disciples, He is aided by the Holy Ghost. He gave His
commandments "through the Holy Ghost." Luke says, "Until the day in which
He was taken up, after that He through the Holy Ghost had given
commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen." It is in the power of
the Spirit that He walks during those days after His resurrection from the
dead, and comforts and teaches His disciples. And although the Scriptures do
not so state, doubtless it was by the power of the Holy Ghost that He made
His ascension to the right hand of the Father. Thus we have seen how the
Christ moved in the power of the Spirit. He was conceived by the Holy Ghost
and born of the Virgin Mary; He was anointed by the Spirit at His baptism;
He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and
returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee; He performed His miracles
through the power of the Spirit; He was sustained during His great trials by
the Spirit; He made the great offering of Himself as the world's sacrifice for
sin through the "Eternal Spirit," and was "raised again for our justification"
by the Spirit.
And what does all this mean to us? Does it not teach us that we, too, must
be born of the Spirit; endure our temptations through the help of the Spirit;
be comforted by the Holy Ghost in the trials of faith; make our life a sacrifice
by the "Eternal Spirit," and look to the Spirit to raise us up at the last day?
Then let us, too, be filled with the Holy Ghost, for it is only by the help of the
Spirit that we can live the holy and triumphant life. "As He is so are we in
this world." The Incarnate life is the life He expects us to live. He calls us to
be "holy as He is holy," and by the same power dwelling within us. This is
the last message that fell from His lips, "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy

Ghost not many days hence" and "ye shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost is come upon you." If your life is not victorious, it is because you have
not allowed the Spirit to guide and help you; it is because you are not
obedient to the Spirit. "The Holy Spirit is given to them that obey Him."
This seems to be the place to speak more specifically on the Incarnation
of Christ.
The Incarnation is the cardinal doctrine of Christianity. Deny the doctrine
of the Incarnation, and Christianity takes its place among the mythical
religions of the world. The greatest controversies of the ages have been over
the person of our Lord. In the beginning of the fourth century a subtle form
of denial of our Lord's divinity arose in what is called Arianism. The English
historian Gibbon made fun of this controversy and called it a fight over a
diphthong. Carlyle took the same ground, but afterward changed his mind and
said, "If Arianism had won, Christianity would have passed into a legend."
In the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries the great controversies over our
Lord's person occurred. These are called the five great controversies. They are
the Apollinarian, or the denial of a human soul in Christ; the Eutychian, or
Monophysite, the fusion of the two natures of Christ; the Monothelite, or
doctrine of the one will; and the Nestorian, or doctrine of the two natures in
Christ. The Church has never attempted to give an explanation that would
meet the demands of reason, but she has ever stood ready to guard the truth
which she holds to be essential to the Christian faith and in harmony with the
plain statements of the Scriptures. She has spoken boldly in all her creeds,
and insists on believing that Christ is "Very God and Very Man."
Philosophy has tried to meet the difficulties, and among the modern
philosophers we have some high sounding words and some great eulogies
about the character of the Man of Galilee. Space will only permit a few to be

given. Schleiermacher says, "He is the ideally perfect man in whom the Godconsciousness finds its fullest expression." Sipsius calls Him "The sinless
Personality of the race." Pfleierer says, "The principle of the absolute religion
is manifested in Him." And most of them affirm that He is "The central,
typical, religiously greatest Individual of the race." But they all rob Him of
that divinity which the Scriptures ascribe to Him, and which He claimed for
Himself.
The Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, give the account of His
lowly birth and the incidents surrounding it, and record the ministries of the
Divine-Human Christ, but it is in the Gospel of John and his Apocalypse, in
the epistles of Hebrews and Philippians, that the great doctrine of the
Incarnation lies intrenched.
The two especially great passages are the first fourteen verses of the
Gospel of John, called the "Grand Proeme," and the second chapter of
Philippians, verses sixth to the eighth. We must take up the exegesis of these
latter verses. Who being in the form of God the Greek is morphe, which
means essential being. Who being in the essential being of God "thought it
not a thing to be grasped at to be equal with God." (R.V.) And being found
in fashion as a man, the Greek word for fashion is schema, which means
actual life. So being found in the actual life of a man "He humbled Himself
and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." The word for
empty in the text is the Greek word ekenose, which has given rise to the great
Kenosis doctrine. Of what did Christ empty Himself? This is the great
question men have been trying to answer in all the Christian ages, and it still
remains unanswered. Godet says, "The Divine Logos literally laid aside His
divine attributes at the Incarnation and entered the sphere of the finite as an
unconscious babe." We do not think the Scriptures so teach.

We will leave these speculations and try to get at the heart of this great
doctrine, and see wherein it concerns sinful man. There is great mystery, but
also great comfort in the doctrine, and it lies at the very heart of redemption.
First descending step. He took the form of a servant. He who is God
became man. He entered the human experience. He came as a babe in order
that He might make the entire sweep of human experience. This was a great
condescension. He clothed Himself with humanity from the start. The
Kenotic theories wish to make prominent Christ's humanity. But its
prominence lies in this fact, that He came as a babe, that He "grew and waxed
strong," and that He passed up through all the changing experiences of
infancy and boyhood into manhood. There is much room for speculation here,
and many attempts have been made on one hand to make Him all divine, and
there are many legends concerning the miracles He wrought as a boy; and, on
the other hand, many have tried to make Him too human, and deny those
flashes of divinity which must have broken through the human limitations at
times, as when in the temple. The Scriptures lead us to believe that He was
a moral child, and that nothing remarkable attended the early years of His life.
This patient waiting through those tedious years is to me the sublime thing
in His condescension. He took our actual form: our complex humanity within
its limitations, with its tears, and sorrows, and its temptations.
This leads to the second step in His humiliation: He took our actual
experience. He came into our humanity, into our human experience. We so
often question this. Unitarianism, untrue as it is to His divinity, has made the
Church recognize this great truth: that Jesus Christ was human. He did not
play at being human, but He was intensely human. Men wonder how He
could be tempted; how He could ever doubt; how He could ever be weary,
and how He could ever sorrow. But He did all these because He had our
humanity. There was one great exception which constituted Him at once the

Son of man and the Son of God: He was sinless. Shakespeare says, "It is
human to err." It is not human to err. It is no part of real humanity. It is
human only for fallen humanity. Christ is the real human; the kind of human
God wants every man to be, and there is no place for sin in God's plan for the
human race.
John says, "I write unto you that you sin not." And again, "Whatsoever is
born of God sinneth not," Christ is the "Second Adam." The central fact of
the Incarnation is redemption from sin. It was for this purpose that He came
down and entered our human experience to show man that in this present
world and under these circumstances men can please the Father. He tells us
to be holy. "The Incarnation itself, the union of the divine and human natures,
was the great saving act. Christ redeems us by what He is, not by what He
does." "Being reconciled by His death we shall be saved by His life." He bore
our frailties that we might receive His strength. He took our nature that
through Him we might take His nature. He partook of the human in order that
we might partake of the divine. This is at once the mystery and the glory of
the Incarnation.
Third step in His condescension: Obedient unto death. As far as the
Scriptures teach death had not part in God's plan for humanity. Scientists tell
us that death was the order millions of years before man appeared, on the
earth, and that death is the natural order of the animal world; that lower forms
of life die in the act of reproduction. Be that as it may, the Scriptures do not
so teach in regard to man. "As by one man sin entered into the world and
death by sin." Death is spoken of always as an interruption of the divine
order. It is spoken of as the "last enemy that shall be destroyed." Christ took
not on what was normal in human life, but what was abnormal. Death is a
human experience, but not a necessary part of it. "We shall not all sleep, but
we shall all be changed." Christ took in the whole sweep of our experience,

and "tasted death for every man." But there is more in Christ's death than
dissolution. It is an atoning death, and the fourth step in His humiliation is
His death on the cross. It is here that the Incarnation reaches its vital point.
The death of Christ is the sine qua non of the Incarnation. He came not only
into normal and abnormal human experience, but He bore the penalty of our
sins. "Christ not only wears our nature, but in the exercise of a perfect
sympathy He truly identifies Himself with us in our lot, bears our sins and
sorrows on His soul, and represents us to the Father, not as an external legal
surety, but with a throbbing heart of love."
Christ lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, "Father, I have finished the
work which Thou gavest Me to do, and now, Father, give Me back the glory
which I had with Thee from the foundation of the world." Christ did not leave
behind His entire Godhead, as Godet would have us believe, but He did lay
aside the actual experience of the Godhead when He took on our human
experience with its limitations, its sorrows, and its temptations; and not until
He had swept through the gates of death and had passed through the gates of
glory, and was once more seated on the throne of the Father did He receive
back the glory; but we must not forget that He carried with Him into the
Godhead a redeemed humanity. When we keep in mind that He laid aside the
actual experience of the Godhead and took on the human expressions as "My
Father is greater than I," and "My Father and I are one," we shall see that in
the former He is speaking as the Son of man and in the latter as the Son of
God. The Incarnate Lord is the mystery of ages and must be grasped by faith.
The Babe of Bethlehem has redeemed our humanity by taking on the "fashion
of man" and becoming "obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

The Spirit's Revelation of Christ.

"He shall take of the things of mine and shall show

them unto you."

It is only the spiritually-minded man who can discern the

Jews' Messiah and the world's Redeemer in the Infant
"wrapped in swaddling clothes."

THE SPIRIT'S REVELATION OF CHRIST.

ACTS 1:8, "Ye shall be witnesses unto Me." Christ told His disciples that
"When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come" "He shall glorify Me: for He shall
receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you."
The disciples before Pentecost had a very imperfect vision of their Divine
Lord, and this must needs be so in the very nature of the case, for the "Natural
man understandeth not the things of the Spirit." "It is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is truth." "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord,
but by the Holy Ghost." There is no wonder that the world stumbles at the
doctrine of the Incarnation. It is not surprising that the world's philosophies
reject the story of the virgin birth. Such truths are too deep for the un-spiritual
mind of man. It is only the spiritually-minded man who can discern the Jews'
Messiah and the world's Redeemer in the Infant "wrapped in swaddling
clothes," and cry out, "Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace
according to Thy word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation and the glory
of Thy people Israel." When Peter answered in response to Christ's question,
"Whom do ye say that I the Son of man am?" "Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the Living God," Jesus answered and said unto him, "Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My
Father which is in heaven." And notwithstanding Peter's testimony the
disciples had a very limited vision of the Christ. Their spiritual vision is
greatly increased after the Spirit fell upon them.
Let us take up some of the revealed truths as set forth in their testimony,
for they were to be witnesses unto Christ. And first, their changed views as
to His death. Before Pentecost they did not look upon His death as necessary

for the sins of the world. They did not understand the deep meaning of
Isaiah's words when he said, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him,
and with His stripes we are healed." They did not see, as they saw later, that
"He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," and that He would
make peace by the "blood of His cross." They understood not the sacrificial
significance of His death. They would share death with Him. Thomas said,
"Let us go up and die with Him."
And when He had given the keys of the kingdom to Peter it is written,
"From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He
must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day;" but to Peter this
was unnecessary, for he "Began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee,
Lord: this shall not be unto Thee;" but Christ turned, and said unto Peter,
"Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense unto me: for thou savorest
not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."
Now listen to Peter's first sermon after Pentecost. "Ye men of Israel, hear
these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by
miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by Him in the midst of you,
as ye yourselves also know; Him being delivered by the determined counsel
and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have
crucified and slain." Jesus is not a martyr, but a sacrifice for the sins of the
world. No Spirit-filled man can deny the blood atonement. The Spirit-filled
man must be a Trinitarian.
Not only was He crucified by the "determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God," but He is the "Prince of Life whom God hath raised from the dead,"
and "by the right hand of God exalted" to sit on the right hand of God until

"I make Thy foes Thy footstool," "Whom the heavens must receive until the
times of restitution of all things."
The Church at the close of the first century seemed to have lost this vision,
for Christ said to John, "I am He that was dead and am alive for evermore."
How few Christians think of Christ at the right hand of God, "ever living
to make intercession for us," and remember that if we sin "we have an
Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous?"
What a soul vision that is to see Christ standing at the right hand of God
ready to help His dying martyr, and no wonder that the apostle tells us to
"Come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find
grace to help in time of need." "Seeing that we have a great High Priest that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." This can never be real until
the Spirit dwells within us.
But this exalted One is to be rejected by the world. The meaning of Isaiah's
words, "He was despised and rejected of men . . . He was despised and we
esteemed Him not," is full of significance to them since the Holy Spirit came
to illuminate their souls. They had seen something of this rejection, and they
had felt it in their own hearts. They did not like His growing unpopularity.
When they saw the rulers turning from Him and the many going away "to
walk no more with Him," they, too, felt the darkness of the hour of His
rejection; but after Pentecost they see that this rejection must needs be, and
that "He came to His own and His own received Him not." Christ was not to
be popular during this Gentile dispensation; rejected by the Jews He is also
to be rejected by the Gentiles. The anointing of the Spirit changed their views
of the Messiah from the traditional view they had held to the true view given
by Isaiah. Listen to Peter quoting from the Messianic Psalm: "Why did the

heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth
stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against
His Christ. For of a truth against Thy Holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast
anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of
Israel, were gathered together; for to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy
counsel determined before to be done." And has it not ever been so? Christ
is to-day rejected. There is not a single modern philosophy that does not
reject the Christ of the Scripture. They have made a Christ of their own, but
they reject the God-anointed Christ, the Savior of mankind.
The Spirit's anointing will change a man's theology, for under His
illumination we shall see the "truth as it is in Christ Jesus." "In His light we
shall see light." We shall not be misled by the modern false optimism, but we
shall see clearly that the Christ has always been rejected in the person of the
true Church; that "As He is so are we in this world." If He were to come today in the garb of a peasant, preaching the truths that fell on the ears of the
idle multitude, it would be a "little, little flock" that would receive Him
gladly. It will take the anointing to reveal to our hearts the world's true
attitude toward the Christ of God.
Again, the Spirit revealed the true nature of the work of the Church in this
dispensation. It was hard for the disciples to feel that their own nation, to
"whom were committed the Oracles of God," "to whom pertaineth the
adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and of whom as
concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever," it
was hard to feel that they had rejected the Christ and that a people who were
not a people had been chosen in their place; and that Israel had been cut off,
and the "wild olive grafted in." But so the Spirit revealed. It was with the
greatest reluctance that Paul turned unto the Gentiles, and Peter needed a

special vision to send him to the Gentile Cornelius. The Spirit revealed that
this was the day of the Gentiles, and for a time the Jews as a nation were set
aside; not forever, as some erroneously teach, but until the "fullness of the
times of the Gentiles come in." When the council met in Jerusalem "to
consider of this matter, after hearing Barnabas and Paul declare what miracles
and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles," James answered, saying,
"Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the
first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for His name," and
"After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which
is fallen down: and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up that
the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom
My name is called."
This Gentile doctrine was a revelation to the apostles, for Paul tells us
"that by revelation He made known the mystery: which in other ages was not
made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy
apostles and prophets by the Spirit; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs,
and of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel."
When the Spirit reveals this dispensational truth to the heart it changes the
entire front of a man's ministry, and puts an unction from the Holy One in his
preaching. Christ is calling out a people from among the Gentiles, a holy
people, a people for His own possession and full of good works. To say, as
some do, that we are only to evangelize if is meant by evangelize simply
preaching the gospel to the nationsis only a half truth, and dangerous
because a half truth. We are to call men to repentance and faith in Jesus
Christ, and to the baptism of the Holy Spirit because it means all this to be
the people of God, holy and undefiled; but to say that the nations are going
to be converted before Christ comes is to go in the face of the plainest
Scripture. We must receive the Spirit if we would see God's plan for the

nations. When the Jews return to Palestine it will mark the closing of the
Gentile period. Let us ask the Spirit to enlighten us concerning God's great
plan of redemption, for "He shows you things to come."
There is one more vision of Christ I must briefly mention: that Christ "is
to gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and
which are on earth; even in Him," and that will be done "in the dispensation
of the fullness of times," this being "according to His good pleasure which He
hath purposed in Himself."
Let us receive the Spirit and walk in the Spirit, and He will "bring to
remembrance the things I have spoken unto you, and guide into all truth."

Manifestations of the Spirit.

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to

every man to profit withal."

"It is true, there is a sort of religion, nay, and it is called

Christianity, too, which may be practiced without any such
imputation, which is generally allowed to be consistent with
common sense; that is, a religion of form, a round of
outward duties, performed in a decent, regular manner.
You may add orthodoxy thereto, a system of right opinions,
yea, and some quantity of heathen morality; and yet not
many will pronounce that 'much religion hath made you
mad.' But if you aim at the religion of the heart, if you talk
of 'righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost,'
then it will not be long before your sentence is passed,
'Thou art beside thyself.'" WESLEY.

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SPIRIT.

ALL life manifests itself in some way or other. The little plant called
Oscillatory has its oscillations. Nothing that has life is without its
manifestations of life. Life has force, and all force manifests itself. The lizard
darts with such swiftness that it evades the eye of man. The insect world
unseen to the eye of man is alive with activity. From the swift flight of the
eagle to the ponderous movement of the elephant life manifests itself in
different forms. The lizard darts, the eagle soars, the leopard springs, and the
reptile crawls, but all are different manifestations of the same principle we
call life.
The soul of man is dead because it is alienated from the life of God. "She
that lives in pleasure is dead while she liveth." The soul is dead in trespasses
and sins. The first Adam was made a living soul, the Second Adam is a
quickening Spirit. The Father quickeneth, and the Son quickeneth whom He
will. The impartation of God's life will manifest itself in newness of life. The
life of the Spirit entering the dead soul of man will have its manifestations.
When we turn water into a hose, the hose conforms to the force within, and
it is so when God turns the current of His life within the soul: the soul is
transformed by the power of new life.
The manifestations of the Spirit depend on the temperament of the person,
for "there are diversities of gifts and diversities of operations, but it is the
same God which worketh all and in all." It is unreasonable to expect all
Christians under the influence of the Holy Spirit to act in the same manner.
Under the Spirit's power the true character or disposition is brought out. The
most of us live superficial lives. We are bound by customs and opinions, and

the soul is lettered by the "Gemein-geist," the popular spirit. We need the
Spirit to break our bondage and set the soul free from its superficial life.
There is freedom in Christ Jesus, for "whom the Son makes free, he is free
indeed."
Great manifestations are not an integral part of the Christian life, that is,
we are not to expect great ecstasies to be a permanent experience. The fiery
tongues that rested upon the heads of the disciples at Pentecost were not
permanent evidences of the fiery love which filled their hearts. The tongues
of speech did not remain a permanent gift of the early Church, for "tongues
shall cease;" but when the Holy Ghost has entered the heart, "Now abides
faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love."
When the ice-bound river melts beneath the warm sunshine and gentle
rains there is a torrent rush, but when the river is free from ice it flows gently
on to its ocean fullness. It is so with the Church. When the Spirit breaks up
our formalities there are great manifestations, and then the Church moves on
in the channel of God's life, and worships in Spirit and in truth.
I have been in meetings where strong men have been convulsed with
laughter, and little children have wept, and young girls have prophesied, and
dignified people have been made a spectacle before the world. When God is
breaking up the winter of the Church the formalist cries out for order. What
is order? Is death order? Is godliness without power order? It may be so, but
it is worldly order and not spiritual order. Christianity is life and power. The
frozen river is orderly, stiff, and cold, but we prefer the blue river rolling to
the ocean depths. We admire the beautiful ceremonies of the formal churches,
but our souls cry for life and freedom. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the
flesh profiteth nothing; the words I speak unto you are spirit and life." "The

hour is coming and now is when they that worship the Father must worship
Him in Spirit and in truth, for the Father desireth such to worship Him."
In these days of psychic movements and religious hysteria one grows
alarmed at the emotional in religion. But on the other hand we must beware
lest we become cold and formal, and we lose the true spirit of the Christian
faith. Christianity is not a cold formalism, but a religion of earnestness; a
religion that has for its essential working the "baptism of the Holy Ghost and
fire;" a religion that strikes down into the very depths of our nature, cleansing
and refining and empowering with divine energy. Its initial step was a
staggering one. The world thought the disciples drunken. Christianity came
to the world not in the quiet decorum of a stilted Judaism, but on the wings
of "a mighty rushing wind" with tongues of fire and hearts aflame. It rushed
upon the cold formalism of the Jew, breaking its stagnant calm like the ocean
winds lift the placid waters into foaming billows. There is great danger in
these days that because of our reasonable fears we shall deny the supernatural
and lose the life and power of the Christian faith. I feel that there is nothing
that will meet the needs of this age but the earnest, sincere, Spirit-filled
Christianity of the apostolic days. We grow cold and formal and dogmatic.
We become Pharisaical without intending to be so, and traditional without
being conscious of the fact. "The letter killeth; the Spirit giveth life." The
Master cried out along the ranks of a traditional holiness, "He that believeth
on Me, out of his inmost parts shall flow rivers of living water." Many people
have been indoctrinated. They wait to be set free. Thousands of hearts are
crying for freedom. Religion has become a burden; holiness has become a
pressure on the conscience, and traditionalism has taken the place of the
freedom Christ brought to the world. We are afraid of emotionalism. And is
not religion for our emotional nature? Can I be truly religious without being
emotional? Can I have God's life pulsating through my soul and not be
emotional? How can I be filled with joy and not be emotional? How can I

have an indwelling Christ without emotion? How can I be holy without

emotion? Arnold says, "Religion is morality touched with emotion."
We need the presence of the Spirit in our worship, and wherever He is
present He will manifest Himself in some way or other. "The manifestations
of the Spirit are given to every man to profit withal." They keep the Church
from drifting into cold, lifeless formalism. In certain sections of the Church
these manifestations are denied because the Church has denied the
supernatural in religion. In other sections they are feared because there is so
much fanaticism abroad in the land. But we must be delivered from our
bondage at any cost. We must have liberty in Christ Jesus and be made "free
indeed." With Wesley let us say, "Lord, give us a revival without fanaticism
if You can; but if not, give us a revival anyway." Let us "try the spirits to see
if they be of God," but let us not suppress the emotional in religion, lest in
our attempt to steady the ark we die in a cold apathy of religious death. Let
us trust God to guide us, and let us have confidence in the Holy Spirit.
Great supernatural events are just ahead of us. The Spirit of God will be
poured out upon us, and our sons and daughters will prophesy and old men
will dream dreams. God will manifest Himself to the confusion of the dead
Church. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy
to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest
expectation of the creature waiteth upon the manifestation of the sons of God,
. . . because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God." O God, give us
life at any cost! Let the Spirit quicken us into holy activities. Let the fire fall
upon our waiting sacrifice, and kindle our hearts afresh with holy love, and
with the fervency of the Spirit of life and power. Let the "little hills clap their
hands," and the "mountains flow down at His presence." "Shout, ye
inhabitants of Zion, for great is the Holy One in the midst of thee." Let us "be

filled with the Spirit, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving
thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ."

The Spirit in the Cross.

"But God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ."

"The price of being true is the cross." ROBERTSON.

THE SPIRIT IN THE CROSS.

TEXT, Gal. 6:14: "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ." In another place in this epistle Paul says, "If I yet preach
circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offense of the cross
ceased." Paul not only loved the cross and gloried in it, but he also stood
guard over it. The essential words in Paul's theology are dying with Christ,
living with Christ, growing up into Christ. The emphasis is laid upon these
three phases of the Christian faith. With Paul they are essential. You can sum
up Paul's teaching in the words, cross of Christ. A gospel without the cross
is another gospel, or rather no gospel at all. The cross is the power in
Christianity. The powerlessness of today's religion is in the absence of the
cross. Even in much of the higher teaching we miss this strong note of
suffering which is the very background of the Christian system. Men are not
willing to suffer to-day for the truth. Spurgeon said in his day, "There is not
enough martyr blood in the Christian Church to fill a thimble." People do not
want to pay any price for their religion, and a religion that is not worth
suffering for and denying oneself for is not worth the asking. If there is no
offense in our religion, I am afraid there is not much worth in it either. If it
pleases everybody, I fear it does not please God. If all men speak well of us
I fear the woe of God is pronounced against us. The religion of Christ can not
be popular and powerful at the same time. It is not within the nature of the
case that it should be so. If we espouse the cause of the cross we may expect
to know something of its offense as well as the glory and the joy. The
powerlessness of to-day's religion, I repeat, is due, I believe, to the failure of
those who profess it to take up their daily cross and follow Christ. The only
true holinessthe holiness the Bible speaks ofis that which radiates from
the cross of Christ. The only true holiness is that which springs from the

grave of the dead self. It exceeds the "righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees" because it is a life hidden with Christ in God.
It is perhaps well to define what Paul means by "the cross." It is that act by
which the soul is crucified unto the world and the world unto the soul. Paul
is not thinking so much of the cross Christ carried up the rugged side of
Golgotha. He is not thinking of the Christ dying, but of our dying with Christ.
This is what fills Paul's thought. We, too, must die and rise with Christ. We
must be buried with Him in baptism, and be baptized with the same baptism
of death in order to know that life of power which overcomes the world. Then
it is that act in which self dies and Christ lives His larger life. It is the
abandonment of the me. It is to do the will of God when all the world is
opposed to the doing of it. It is to steadily deny those things which are not in
the Spirit of the cross. To be strict in your life when it would be easier to be
liberal. To hold God's standard high when the Church is clamoring to have
it lowered. To speak out against existing evils when it would be to your
advantage to keep silence in the Church. To compromise with a Judaizing
religion that would have brought an end to the cross for Paul, and that will
bring an end to the cross for us. We can not learn to glory in the cross until
we have learned to endure it. Christ endured the cross and despised the shame
for the glory that was set before Him. Paul gloried in "tribulation because
tribulation worketh patience, patience experience, and experience hope, and
hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." He took pleasure in
infirmities because these "light afflictions work out a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory." He glories in the cross because it makes him dead
to this world and alive unto God. It is righteousness he wants, and he finds
it in the cross of Christ. Not because it makes him happy, but because it
makes him holy. Holiness should not be sought to make us happy, but to
make us holy. To seek holiness as a means to greater happiness is but to seek

self in another form. To seek it that you might be freed from the harassings
of the carnal heart is but to seek it selfishly; but to seek it that you might live
henceforth unto God, and unto God alone, is to seek it righteously. When we
long to be holy more than we long to be happy, we shall learn to glory in the
cross of Christ by which we are crucified unto the world.
The way of the cross is a lonely way. Yes, the cross does separate one from
the crowd. It does break off many a dear friendship, and send us forth into the
solitude of our own lives. It does make us the companions of the despised
few. But what of that? Have you not found richer life in the company of the
chosen few than you ever found in the crowd? Are not the few tried and true
friends of Jesus better company than the worldly throng who are the enemies
of your Lord? Was it not better for the disciples to move on in the dark with
Christ; go with Him to the shades of the "torturing cross," than to return with
the crowd who said "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?" Is it not better
even to weep alone than to enjoy sin for a season, and mingle with the cold
and heartless frivolities of the dying world? It is a narrow way and "few there
be that find it," but all who are so fortunate as to turn from the world to Christ
are well satisfied with His way. You will find that in company with the Man
of Sorrows your heart will burn within you as you walk and talk by the way.
No; it is not lonely. It can not be lonely to be in the company of God. Was
Moses lonely in the mount with God? Surely not so lonely as Aaron in the
valley with the idolatrous people. A fading earth, brother, means a brighter
heaven. Were the disciples who sat weeping under the shadow of their dying
Lord lonely? Surely they must have been, but not as lonely as the motley
crowd that hissed Him to His death. There is a lonely side to the cross, but let
us remember it brings us into great company. "Ye are come unto Mount Zion,
and unto the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an
innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the
first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the

spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new
covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than of
Abel." Let us not dishonor this company by speaking too much of the
loneliness of the way. The world thinks the way of the cross very lonely, but
then they do not see the great company we are in. Let us not be offended at
the cross which brings us into such fellowships.
The offense of the cross will never cease in us until He comes to be
crowned. The true religion of Christ will never be popular until He reigns,
and we rob it of its power when we make it so. Popular religion has no saving
power. The cross alone can crush the world spirit out of us, and you can not
save a man until you have saved him from the world within himself and
without himself. Let us not ask for the offense of the cross to cease in our
lives. We have thought after awhile people would understand us and would
cease to think of us as peculiar people, and would again bring us into their
company. Then we have grown tired of the frown of the world, and thought
we were too strict, and that there was no need of being so separate from the
people, and we have compromised and lowered the standard. We have said,
"Now I will show these people that I am not so peculiar as they think, and
that I, too, can enjoy the world's ways, and the holiness I profess is not such
a strict thing they think it is." Then the offense of the cross is ceased, and the
joy that was in the cross has also departed. Let us remember that when the
offense is gone the power by which you overcame the world is likewise gone,
and that when you have returned to the companionships of the world you
have lost the heavenly companionships. When you are a friend of God you
are an enemy of the world, and when you are a friend of the world you are an
enemy of God. When you are offended at the cause of truth; when you are
ashamed of the One who is walking the way of truth; when you fail to take
Christ's part in the judgment hall, you are the enemy of the cross. When in
our Churches where holiness is evil spoken of we are ashamed to espouse the

cause of true religion, we are the enemies of the cross. When you are
ashamed to be seen in company with those who are rejected by the world, you
are ashamed of Christ, for He, too, was rejected by men. When pride in your
heart says it will not do to espouse the cause of these peculiar people, these
unpopular people; when you hesitate to stand in your home, in your Church,
in your Conference for the truth; when you want to be well thought of and
esteemed by the worldly-wise; when you ask in your heart for a place of favor
in the eyes of those who are not the sincere followers of Christ, you are
shunning the cross of Christ. When you try to please the world; when you
hold back the truth you know you ought to speak for fear of offending some
one, you are shunning the cross. When we murmur at the pain which the
cross brings into our lives; when we shrink from the hardships the cross calls
us to endure; when we ask for an easier path than the present hour of duty
calls us, we are shrinking from the cross.
To those who are bearing the cross bravely there is a fellowship of God not
known to others. The Father receives all who are rejected of men with such
a close embrace. He cries out from His throne in the midst of the rejecting
world, "This is My beloved Son." If the world thrusts you from it, it is to cast
you into the arms of the All-loving. "When my father and mother forsake me
then the Lord will take me up." There is a tender embrace waiting for those
whom the world has cast out from its society. There is a clinging to God the
soul can not know until the arms of the world have released their grasp. There
is a soul joy that the soul can not feel until it has found itself alone with God
as its only Friend. What must have been the joy of that woman when the
sweet cadence of those words fell on her ears so lately troubled by the world's
scorns and sneers, "Neither do I condemn thee!" What must have been the joy
of that heart driven and tossed by fierce execration when she felt herself alone
in the presence of the divine, uncondemned and uncensured!

The cross, then, is the presence of God. When the world thinks it has left
us lonely and sad, it has left us in the joyful presence of God. When it thinks
it has robbed us of joy by dismissing us from its company, it has but driven
us into the company of innumerable angels and the "spirits of just men made
perfect." Golgotha is outside Jerusalem, but it is in the will of God. Calvary
is the rejection of men, but it is the most glorious experience in the Godhead.
That which looked like night to the world, was from the other shore the
brightest morning. That which caused great grief to the disciples because not
understood, is the theme of their baptized hearts. That which the world rejects
and was to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks a rock of offense,
was to Paul the cause for greatest joy.
Then, again, the cross is the peace of God. He hath made peace "through
the blood of His cross." There is great peace in suffering the will of God. The
cross is the highest form of obedience. "He learned obedience by the things
that He suffered." There is no peace apart from perfect obedience. He died
because He obeyed. But it was the price of peace. The price is not too great:
that any soul can testify to. The peace of God is worth all it costs, brethren.
You can not find peace in the path of disobedience. "Righteousness, peace,
and joy in the Holy Ghost" are given only to them that obey God and keep
His commandments. There is no peace in compromise with the world. The
slightest disobedience is punished by the loss of the peace of God. To refuse
to follow the path God has marked out for us, though it be covered with
thorns and beset on every hand with dangers, to fail to take the next step in
the path of duty made plain, is to forfeit the peace of God. This is the lesson
of the cross. This is what the Garden of Gethsemane teaches us, and this is
the reason He went manfully up that ignominious way, because it was easier
for Him to die than to lose the peace of God. If the cross was the price, then
He would go to the death of the cross. And He has left us His peace, but it is
upon the same conditions, that we obey God. Obedience to the will of God

will bring pain, hardship, self-denial, self-sacrifice, but it will also bring
peace. How many have lost this peace because they have not been obedient
to the heavenly vision! Many have lost it because they have failed in the test.
They have shrunk from the hard way, but they have found it much harder to
live without the peace of God. Let us remember it is a peace that the world
can not give and can not take away. "The price of being true is the cross," but
the gift the cross bestows upon us is the great peace of God.
The cross is the power of God. He was crucified through weakness, but He
liveth by the power of God. The cross life is one of weakness. It seems that
we are never growing strong. Out of weakness they waxed strong, and so
shall we. Our very weakness is our strength and safety. When we are weak
then we are strong. "Who is weak and I am not weak?" said the great apostle.
The cross makes us weak, and we shrink from weakness. It is death to our
pride to feel so weak. God is not baffled over weak things. He takes the weak,
foolish things of this world to confound the mighty. "My grace is sufficient
for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness; most gladly therefore
will I glory in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may rest on me." We
do not need to be strong in order for God to work. Our very strength is an
hindrance to His working. It is in our weakness alone that God can work. Joy
can not add anything to God's strength. It is by our removal that God
manifests His power. With our estimation of power the cross is a failure and
a weakness. Some men think the cross is the weakest thing about Christianity.
They say: "Let us have something strong. Let us make Him out a hero. Let us
eliminate these weak elements from Christianity." And the cross is still a
stumbling-block and a rock of offense. But Paul says it is the power of God
and life from the dead, and so it is, brethren. See what the cross has done. It
is doubtful if Christ would have been heard of but for the cross. It is the
element of strength in the Christian system rather than one of weakness.
"God's servants, the best of them, are ripened and mellowed by suffering.

Amos, the herdsman, was a bruiser of sycamore figs, a kind of fig that never
ripened in that country unless it was struck with a rod, and then, being
bruised, it began to ripen. I fear there are very few of God's children that will
ripen without suffering." (Spurgeon.)
The cross is a pledge of victory. It is the secret of holiness, the secret of
peace, the secret of joy, and the pledge of victory. When the offense of the
cross has ceased in our lives, and we can no longer glory in it, then our
holiness is a miserable, weak imitation of that perfect Man. When the offense
is ceased we lose our peace and power, and that strong note of victory which
we see in the Masters life. As long as we stand by the cross we are more than
conquerors. No weapon that is formed against us can prosper. Dead to the
world, the world is dead to us and powerless. Under the shadow of the cross
no enemy can prevail. We rob the world of its power when we are ready to
suffer with Christ. When the world says, "But we will drive you into exile,"
we answer back and confess that we are strangers and pilgrims here and have
no certain dwelling place. But the world says, "We will take away your
living," we answer back, "My Father knoweth that I have need of these
things," and "I have learned how to be abased and how to abound." But "We
will kill you." We answer back, "Whether we live or die we are the Lord's."
"We will put you out of the synagogue." In the language of Savonarola we
answer back, "You can excommunicate me from the Church militant, but not
from the Church triumphant." When the cross has done its work in our hearts
it robs the world and sin of all power over our wills. Satan has no power
beneath its shadows. Death is conquered by death. Shame is robbed of its
power by bearing shame. When faith throws its arms of confidence around
the cross, the billows of temptation dash in vain. The world will not lose its
power until we are dead to the world. We shall not be free from sin until we
are dead to it. May we hold still while the cross shall do its gracious work.
The cross is the sure pledge of victory.

To Paul, the persecutor, Judaism had no place for the Christians because
the Leader of the Christians was anathema. Why did Paul persecute the
Christians? Because they were crucified with Christ, and the pollution that
came from the cross rested also upon them. Judaism had no place for the
Christians because they were polluted by the cross of their Master. Paul was
dead to the law because the law had pronounced Jesus accursed. Paul
accepting Him as the Messiah shared the cross with Him. To the Jew the
cross was a stumbling-blocka scandal. Not because they had received One
who had been rejected, but because they had accepted One who had been
accursed. "I am determined to know nothing among you save Jesus Christ and
Him crucified." "No man speaking in the Spirit of God saith Jesus is
anathema; and no man can say Jesus is the Lord save in the Holy Ghost."
Now he could cry I have been crucified with Christ. "Let us go without the
camp bearing His reproach." He repeats it, "I have been crucified with
Christ." What from the outside seemed banishment was a home coming to the
freedom of a child.
It was in order to escape the reproach of the cross, to atone for their belief
in the Nazarene, that they persuaded the Gentile Christians to be circumcised.
They were men pleasers. "The print of the Jewish scourge upon his back
attested his loyalty to Gentile Christendom." I "bear in my body the dying of
the Lord Jesus." The legalists imputed to Paul the last thing of which he was
capabledenying the cross. The Jews hated that scandalous, offensive cross,
the stumbling-block of Jewish pride. Certain Jewish Christians tried to live
on good terms with their non-Christian brethren, and admitted into fellowship
men who cared more for Judaism than for Christ and His cross. The world
had seen and hated both Him and His Father. The cross makes void all works
of righteousness. This teaching offends moralists and ceremonialists, of
whatever age or schoolit is the offense of the cross. It put an end to
lawto Jewish ordinances. To preach the cross was to declare legalism

abolished. To preach circumcision was to declare the cross and its offense
abolished. Circumcisionists fought shy of Calvary. They, like modern
moralists, did not see why the cross should be always pushed to the front.
Paul confronts Judaism at every turn with the dreadful cross. He insists that
men shall realize its horror and shame. It gives a tremendous shock to their
moral conceits. Education, social discipline, or legislation can not change the
human heart: only the cross can do that.

The Spirit's Aspiration.

"Having a desire to depart and be with Christ,

which is far better."

"The grave has once, and more than once, at the

Redeemer's bidding, given up its dead. It is a world of fact.
It tells us what the Bible means by our resurrectionnot a
spiritual rising into new holiness, merely,that, but also
something more. It means that in our own proper identity
we shall live again. Make that thought real, and God has
given you, so far, victory over the grave through Christ."
ROBERTSON.

THE SPIRIT'S ASPIRATION.

"HAVING a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better."
No one but the truly spiritual can understand this longing of Paul to depart
and be with Christ. Most people are so absorbed in the things of time and
sense that they fear to depart and be with Christ. Most people fear to
exchange worlds, and dread the thought of Christ's coming. Men fear to enter
the spiritual world because they are strangers to the spiritual life. "Men fear
to die," says Bacon, "as children fear to go in the dark." Only the man who
can say, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" can say, "For I am in a
straight betwixt two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is
far better."
Let us inquire whence comes this longing in Paul's heart to leave this
world of sense and enter into the unknown world, where so very few have a
desire to depart. It is wrong to wish oneself dead. Christianity is the preserver
of human life. Christianity only calls for life when principle is at stake. Christ
holds human life very sacred, but He holds the will of God more sacred. He
tells His disciples to sacrifice their lives before disobeying the dictates of
their conscience. The desire of Paul to depart was not the desire of one who
is weary of life. It is rather, as we shall see, the desire of fuller life that causes
him to wish to depart and be with Christ, for he says "which is far better." It
is not the case of the disappointed man who finds nothing in life worth living
for, and is discouraged with his very existence, and finds life a burden which
is too heavy to bear. It is not that he has nothing to live for, for he has said,
"For me to live is Christ," but "to die is gain." Paul is not the man who,
having drunk to the dregs the cup of worldly pleasure and finding it

unsatisfying, has nothing more to live for. This is the awful fate of the
worldling. For him the "world passes away and the lusts thereof," and there
is nothing in the world worth living for, and sooner or later every man out of
Christ will find the empty void and the shades of despair and disappointment.
And then again Paul is not a coward. He is not tired of bearing the cross.
He is not wishing to shirk the duties of life. It is wicked to grow weary with
our lot and complain with the work Providence has set our hands to perform.
Paul was not a murmurer nor a complainer. He who said to these same
Philippians, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may
be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of
a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world,"
was not himself complaining of his lot in life. It is very wicked to complain
of one's lot in life. It shows that the life is not surrendered to the will of God.
Above all it is wrong for the Christian to murmur, because his faith teaches
him "that all things work together for good to them that love the Lord and are
called according to His purpose." Paul had a great many burdens in life, and
none of us would have cared to exchange places with him. But he did not
desire to depart so that he might be freed from the burdens he bore.
Then again, it was not his sufferings that caused him to desire "to depart
and be with Christ." Paul was a patient sufferer and an hero in tribulation.
"We glory also in tribulation, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and
patience experience, and experience hope." There are many who welcome
death because it brings an end to their sufferings. It is not because they are so
much alive to the things of the spiritual world that they desire to depart, but
because they are suffering in this more than they think they can bear. It was
not so with Paul. He said, "Our light affliction which is but for a moment
worketh a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." Paul did

not desire to depart in order that he might escape the sufferings of this present
world. Neither was it a desire for rest. Although who would blame this
tireless and indefatigable worker if at times he longed for rest? No, he is
willing to continue with his toils for the "furtherance and joy of their faith."
He is willing to continue among them, to labor for them and suffer for them.
He has not grown weary of the way. This desire for departure into the
spiritual world is not a desire of a tired man for the rest of the grave, "where
the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." Many wish for
heaven when they are weary and sick and disappointed with life. And it is the
glory of our faith that it offers rest to all such. But we do not have to go to
heaven to find that rest. "Come unto Me and I will give you rest; take My
yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye
shall find rest unto your souls." Paul had found rest in Christ Jesus. And if we
do not find rest in Christ, there is little hope of finding rest in the grave. No,
these are not the reasons for Paul's desire to "depart and be with Christ."
What, then, is the reason? Why, "to be with Christ, which is far better." We
shall have to enter into Paul's great appreciation of Christ if we are to
understand these words. Christ filled Paul's entire horizon. He saw nothing
worth living for out of Christ. For Christ he counted all things but dung. He
said: "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea,
doubtless, and I count them but dung that I may win Christ." Paul longed for
that Christlikeness which can not be obtained amidst earth's limitations. He
longed for a closer fellowship with Christ. He longed for a world where there
are no hindrances to the heart's growth in holiness. He longed for a world
wherein dwelleth righteousness. He felt that his nature could not expand in
this foul atmosphere. He reached forth eagerly to "those things which are
before," he "pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in
Christ Jesus." Paul felt that he was not at home in this selfish, sinful world.
He longed to get home among the "spirits of just men made perfect." He grew
restless amidst earth's limitations. Christ longed for the glory that He had

with the Father before the world was. Some men live very near the spiritual
world. It is said of one that "he lived in heaven and worked on earth." This
was certainly true of the Apostle Paul. He lived Christ. Every truly spiritual
man has had this "desire to depart and be with Christ." It is faint in most of
us because we live too near the earth. Our lives are too worldly. Amidst all
the splendors of God's wonderful worldand the more spiritual we become
the more we shall glory in the handiwork of our Godamidst all the
comforts and joys of our earthly life; amidst all the sweet fellowships of
human society; in life's most exultant moments we ought to feel a "desire to
depart and be with Christ." The "earnest of the Spirit" has created a desire for
the fullness of God. The fellowship of Christ has caused a longing for His
uninterrupted presence. Most divine hope. I have heard men say, "This world
is good enough for me." That indicates an unspiritual minda mind without
ideal. The animal is at home here. As man sinks into the animal life he will
become more and more content with the earthly things which make up his
existence, and yet, immortal being that he is, he can never feel himself at
home, but under his seeming content there is that inexpressible desire to be
something other than he is. There are times when we lose the ideal, and in
most men the spiritual life is so little developed that they have no great soulhungerings for the other and more spiritual existenceand they do feel
content here, and like the disciples they would build tabernacles and dwell
here forever. There are times when nature turns her divine side to us, and then
we call it paradisebut to call this world our home and the resting place of
the soul; this world with its uncertain to-morrowwith its unequalities, its
sorrows and sins, its partings and losses, its struggles for existence, its soul
limitations, its nights of darkness; to think of this world as we see it to-day
with its lights and shadows as our home, is unchristian. No! God has breathed
into our souls the breath of another world. Everything says this is not the
home of manthis is not the soul's natural place. The spiritual man breathes
the atmosphere of another world. Science tells us that we could not live on

the other planets because the atmosphere is not suited for man's organism. So
it is true that the spiritual man can not attain to the perfect ideal in this world.
There are soul limitations that hinder his fullest development. The soul feels
cramped in this tenement of clay, and he longs to put off this mortal that he
may put on the immortal. The spiritual man longs for a larger sphere in which
to develop his divine nature. Only in the next world will our lofty ideals be
fully realized.
To eat, drink, and be merry is a wholesome doctrine, upon the assumption
that there is not another life beyond. This world is only beautiful to those who
can look beyond to fair and unfading worlds. Make this world your
homelive only for the present, and this world holds nothing for you but a
day fading away into night, a pleasure sinking into a sorrow that worketh
death, and a hope that ends in final and ever-deepening despair.
The Christian feels, beautiful as the world is, that he is a stranger and a
pilgrim, passing on through the Elysian fields beyond to the hills of God,
where the tree of life blooms forever and the inhabitants wear the unfading
crown of immortal life. This world affords him discipline and trial and
disappointment enough to work out his "salvation with fear and trembling."
It creates an appetite for the larger life and spiritual world beyond. God does
not want His people to settle here. He wants them to move on to the mansions
in the Father's house. He takes away our earthly goods to get us to seek after
heavenly. You will never understand the Christian life until you live for
another world than this. We live so much in this world is the reason why we
do not have more and stronger longings to "depart and be with Christ, which
is far better." There is something wrong with the aged Christian that when the
threescore years have passed does not long to depart and be with Christ. That
is the true state of the soul nearing eternity. If we live with Christ from day
to day, a true longing will spring up in the soul for the other world. Let us so

live that the other world will not seem so strange to us. The reason people are
so afraid to die is because they are unacquainted with the spiritual world.
Those who are strangers and pilgrims here will be at home there, and those
who are at home here will be strangers there. It was not because Paul did not
enjoy this life that he had longings to depart, but because he felt that he was
outgrowing it. We ought to live so that this world becomes too small for our
development. That is perhaps the reason God removes good people from the
earth; not because they are too good to live in the world in which the most
perfect Son lived, but because the world has become too small for them. This
perhaps is the reason that God allows sinners to linger on in their sin; they
still need the chance and the world's development for their salvation.
This longing for another world was strong in the Old Testament saints.
David said, "I shall be satisfied when I awake in Thy likeness." They all from
Abraham to Malachi, "declare plainly that they seek a country." They with
their limited revelation sought and desired a "better country, that is a
heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath
prepared for them a city." "A small spark led them to heaven; with what
pretense can we excuse ourselves who still cling to earth?"
If you say that this world is good enough for you, and you mean by good
enough that you find full satisfaction for your soul, you are yet unborn of
God. When you are born of God's Spirit you will become dissatisfied with
many things that once gave you delight. Paul said, "When I was a child I
thought as a child, but when I became a man I put away childish things." The
spiritual man puts off the world, not because it is wrong to do this and that,
but because he has outgrown this and that and has no further desire for them,
He that says, "I long to depart and be with Christ," does so because he feels
that "it is far better" to be with Christ. Some men despise the world because
it has disappointed them, and not because they have outgrown its pleasures

and excitements. They are tired of it because it has not smiled on them, and
not because they have reached beyond it in their ideals. That is what Christ
does for His people; He lifts them above the world and makes them
independent of its pleasures. The love of the Father expels the love of the
world. This is the happy secret of the spiritual man: that he does not have to
go outside of his own heart to find pleasure or true happiness. Christ in him
is "the hope of glory." Christianity is not a burden imposed upon man, but a
liberty that causes him to cry out for more and larger liberty. Christ starts a
man on the stretch for the better things. The natural man awakened by the
Spirit finds himself in a cramped cell. He cries to God for freedom, and God
delivers the captive soul out of the bondage of sin, and for awhile he is
satisfied, but as he moves along in the Christian liberty he finds that there are
still limitations and hindrances to his perfect development, and the desire to
depart and be with Christ springs up in his soul. There are prisoners who have
been so long in captivity, they have grown so accustomed to prison life, that
they have no desire for liberty. The desire for liberty has been crushed out of
their life. There are people who live so entirely in the world that the thought
of death is a horror to them. They shun preachers and churches for fear of
being reminded that some day they must leave the world and all their
pleasures behind. They are so attached to earth that they dread to leave it.
Poor souls, they know no other world! The spiritual world is a myth to them,
peopled with ghosts and vague uncertainties. Anything that has a tinge of the
supernatural about it turns them pale with fear. A shooting star makes them
tremble. A severe storm drives them to their knees in terror. This is more than
the fear of judgmentit is the unfitness of the unprepared to enter an
unknown country. It is the fear the brave man feels as he stands alone on the
shores of the island and peers into the dark ambush and wonders what wild
and ferocious beasts lurk within the shadows. It is the fear of the unknown.
It is the fear of those who, when they see Christ coming, cry "for the rocks
and the mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of the Lamb."

The feeling of the man who has made this world his all and in all is like the
feeling the man has when he feels the plank that holds him over the yawning
abyss giving way. It is all they have. I do not wonder men hate to die and
leave their all. Not so with Paul, and not so with the Christian; he has another
world, a kingdom without end, "a city whose Maker and Builder is God." He
sees beyond. He is acquainted up there. He longs to depart. Christ is a living
reality. Christ has appeared to him in the hour of his conversion. Christ has
filled his consciousness. Christ is the Morning Star of his spiritual horizon.
The night of the passing world is gray-streaked with the light of the coming
morn. Unreal, visionary, vague, superstition you may call it if you will, but
nevertheless the truest things in Paul's consciousness and in the
consciousness of many who have lived the spiritual life. I am not surprised
that a worldly man should call the Christian's hope the phantom of a
disordered mind and a superstition that will pass away as the world grows
more intelligent. The natural man can not understand the things of the Spirit.
By constant contact with the world the soul becomes material and earthly. We
wonder sometimes how men can scoff at things which to other men are so
sacred and divine. They only can do so because they are material and have no
heart for the spiritual. "Having eyes they see not, and having ears they hear
not." Brethren! let us all beware of this growing worldliness of our hearts lest
it put out the light of our souls and the spiritual world fades from our vision
to be lost in the darkness of materialism and to appear again as a world that
we can never reach. Let us seek the spiritual world. Let us covet God's grace.
Let us find Christ and follow Him into the world of endless day, where we
shall find that to die is gain. Let us cultivate the spiritual life by prayer and
true service to God and obedience to His commands until we, too, shall be
able to say with Paul, "I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart
and to be with Christ, which is far better." And when this fitful life is
overand it is drawing to its close for all of us we, too, with Paul shall be

able to say, "I am now ready to be offered up, the hour of my departure is at
hand."
"And may there be no moaning of the bar
When I put out to sea."